The Indigo Endeavor
by slimitshim
Summary: Realistic AU. The Indigo Realm of Johto and Kanto have been home to war for thousands of years. After a swift coup 2 powers rise from the chaos, Lance's Empire rules the western half of the realm while the Indigo Federation controls the east. Now Kian, a young Rocket must play a prophetic role in the next inevitable war. Rated M for violence, language, and suggestive themes.
1. Disclaimer and Timeline

Disclaimer *I do not own Pokémon, the rights belong to Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc. and Gamefreak.*

 _The following fan-fic takes place in an AU that draws inspiration from the anime, mangas, and games collectively. This was also inspired by Shattered Thrones a fan-fic created by Squarecircles. Go check out his work, a great narrative that gave me ideas to make my own fan-fic._

The Indigo region has been home to conflicts and wars as long as people remember. There are currently two political factions, the Indigo Empire headed by Lance, and the Indigo Federation headed by an elected official. Due to being one region in the not so distant past, they have more similarities than differences. Each city is led by an influential family whose head is known as Lord or Lady typically the Gym Leader if applicable. Minor cities usually pay homage to a major city for protection though that is not always the case.

The Elite Four are the military leaders from their respective nations. They have different pokémon leagues both sanctioned by the International Pokémon League. The Empire is home to the Silver League, which cumulates to the yearly Silver Conference tournament in Silver Town. The winner of the tournament is offered to join Lance's Imperial pokeknights, his personal vanguard. The Federation is home to the Indigo league, the tournament is the Indigo Conference now held in Celadon City every 3 years. The winner is given the title of league champion, and must compete in the next tournament to retain the title.

Here is a brief timeline of events leading to present day of Episode 1. As the story progresses it will be further away from since time flows constantly forward.

*Timeline subject to changes as the story progresses*

~1000 years ago -A powerful pokémon master uses his armies of men and mon to conquer the Indigo region and proclaimed his kingdom to extend from the east to the west. He ruled until death at the hands of his own charizard.

~800 years ago -The descendants of the king grew weak in power and lacked the ability to control pokémon. This begins the first Kanto-Johto (Indigo) Civil War. For just over 17 years this war waged on to free the people from the oppressive dynasty. Eventually the people united and regained their liberty.

~750 years ago -The people of Kanto and Johto live peacefully as neighbors until something happened. History is unclear as to what happened ancient Johtans say the Kantoans were to blame and the ancient Kantoans said the Johtans were to blame. A bloody war raged on for over 20 years with no clear winner. The Kanto-Johto War ended with many species of pokémon becoming extinct east of Mt. Silver.

~720-730 years ago -The Kanto-Johto war ends with both sides weak after many years of fighting. A truce is made to end the bloodshed. Johtans and Kantoans will be weary of another for years to come.

~600 years ago -Training and battling pokémon becomes a pastime in both regions.

~575 years ago -Blackthorn City is founded by a master dragon trainer.

~500 years ago -Powerful pokémon trainers get followings, which become the first gyms and gym leaders.

~480 years ago -Gym leaders become too powerful and go to war with each other over territory. Pokémon trainers become powerful enough to challenge and defeat Gym leaders replacing them as leader and disrupting stability.

~450 years ago -Four powerful trainers without loyalties to any city/town unite and decimate their competition becoming the first Elite Four Heavenly Kings commonly referred to as the Heavenly Kings or Elite Four.

~430 years ago -A descendant of the original Dragon Master of Blackthorn defeats all four heavenly kings in battle earning their loyalty. The Dragon Master then build his own army with the kings as his generals and proceeds to conquer both Johto and Kanto. He commissions the Indigo Palace to be built in the Indigo Plateau mountain range in the middle of both regions, the plateau becomes the capital and seat of power for his empire.

~425 years ago -The Indigo Palace is completed.

~420 years ago -The Emperor dies without an heir. The Elite Four/Heavenly kings dispute over which of them should claim the throne. Before they could decide the people rebel against them. The four fight all who opposed them and decide that whoever can defeat them as the former emperor did, would be worthy the throne.

~410 years ago- The oldest two members both die of old age leaving only two heavenly kings.

-401 years ago -The two remaining kings seek to bring peace on the land by stepping down, leaving no challenge for trainers to pursue.

-357 years ago- The two kings see that pokémon trainers are constantly over throwing gym leaders and being overthrown themselves soon after. An endless cycle of overthrowing authority leads to cyclical anarchy. The Kings go from gym leader to gym leader trying to create a stable system.

-345 years ago- A primitive Pokémon League called the Mon Association is founded by city leaders from both Kanto and Johto with help from the last remaining Heavenly King. The gym system is started to regulate and control the use of pokémon. The Association is headed by a chancellor elected by the people for a 5 year term.

-320 years ago- The heavenly kings have died a long time ago. Yet the same chancellor is in power of the league and it goes to his head. He uses a new Elite four to spread his power over the land and claims the title of emperor for himself .

-319 years ago- The people quickly rise up against this dictator before he can obtain any more power. The Second Kanto-Johto (Indigo) Civil War begins.

-316 years ago -The wars ends with the would be emperor dead and his elite four replaced with those who defeated them. The Association lowers the term limits to 4 years. Kanto and Johto finally resolve their differences from hundreds of years ago.

-300 years ago - Kanto begins urban development.

-140 years ago -Kanto, the urban east petitions to become a separate region from Johto, the rural west, but the Association and chancellor deny the request.

-120 years ago -The first pokéball prototype is produced.

-107 years ago -Pokéballs are now mass produced and sold to the general public making pokémon household pets, instead of wild animals only a select few can control.

-90 years ago -Johto petitions to become a separate region for no clearly stated reason. The league grant it that status but remains the governmental body of both. This outrages the Kantoan people who wished to separate due to cultural and geo-political differences but were denied 50 years earlier.

-51 years ago - Samuel Oak is born.

-48 The Pokémon League is founded to replace the Mon Association. A tournament system is in development to coincide with the gym badge system to refine the current system for controlling and regulating the use of pokémon.

-41 years ago- Samuel Oak begins his pokémon journey.

\- Team rocket is founded by Madame Boss

-38 The First Triennial Pokémon tournament is held at the Indigo Plateau. Samuel Oak becomes the first recorded pokémon champion by defeating Agatha Kikuko.

-35 years Oak from Kanto and Pryce Yanagi of Johto meet at the Indigo Plateau for a championship battle that lasts 29 hours due to their sheer number of pokémon. The six limit rule is enacted after the Pryce wins simply by having more pokémon on hand.

-33 years ago Other regions adopt the Pokémon league system and six limit rule.

-30 years ago the Kanto War of Independence begins after over six scores(120 years) of the league favoring Johto over Kanto. Earlier that year Lance is born.

16 year old Bill Sonezaki creates the PC Storage System. One of the greatest achievements in world history

-29 years ago- The Kanto army wins the battle for Indigo Plateau making it the de-facto leaders of the Indigo League. Johto separates and becomes home to the Silver League shortly after.

-26 years ago Blue Oak is born. Red Ketchum is born.

Charles Goodshow becomes president of the International Pokémon League(IPL).

-22 years ago Lance becomes a member of the Elite Four.

-21 years ago The Chancellor of the Silver League sees Lance as his most powerful elite and makes him leader of the Heavenly Kings. He convinces Lance to lead the war effort to unite both regions once more.

-Prof. Oak builds the first pokédex encyclopedia, greatest achievement since Bill's PC system 5 years earlier. Red and Blue are each given one and begin their pokémon journeys, while Lance takes city after city in Johto for the Silver League Chancellor.

-18 years ago - Lance and his armies(The Johto Army and his personal Dragon Clan Army) storm the Indigo Plateau, capital of Kanto, during a live press conference. As the Silver Chancellor mocks and ridicules the Indigo Chancellor he claims both regions as his, only to have Lance stage a coup right then and there. The Chancellor tells Lance that he is the Emperor and that Lance has no authority. The Chancellor displaced once a dragonite is released. Lance proceeds to finish the press conference as if it was an ordinary day.

In the same year Team Rocket Is disbanded by Boss Giovanni for unknown reasons.

-16 years ago Celadon City becomes the interim capital of Kanto.

-12 years ago -Emperor Lance's armies march into the Kanto mainland but are met with heavier resistance than his Johto conquests. Lance is unable to Take Pewter City but easily takes the minor cities to the north of it and Cerulean City to the east. Late in that year, the 14 year old Indigo champion Red battles Lance inside Mt. Silver. Lance emerges from the entrance before it collapses. Red is nowhere to be found.

At the same time, Blue Oak, former Indigo champion, leads the southern forces of the Kanto army during the battle of route 27 and pushes the Dragon Lord's forces back. Blue returns a celebrated hero but feels that Lance ordered his forces to retreat after a loss to Red.

-11.5 years ago Lance signs a 20 year truce stating that any area he conquered in Kanto would be apart of his Indigo Empire and any area in Johto south of Goldenrod city would now be apart of the Indigo Federation, the new ruling body of the Kanto region. To diffuse disputes over territory, borders are free to cross since both entities now extend pass the original border, the Indigo Plateau mountain range.

Celadon becomes the official capital of Kanto.

-11 years ago -Ash Ketchum, and Gary Oak are born.

\- 10 years ago - The excavation of Mt. Silver clears the collapsed caverns. Blue secretly joins the excavation team but fails to find Red's body.

-6 years ago - A Team Rocket splinter group is founded in Johto by a masked man who kidnaps children with potential to be great trainers.

-2.5 years ago - The remnants of the original Team Rocket are united by Silver Sakaki, the heir of Giovanni Sakaki and the Rocket Executives. They take over the Johto branch after the masked man is defeated. Silver gives the junior rockets a choice to join the real Team Rocket or go back to their families. 47 Junior rockets join their ranks while the others disperse.


	2. Episode 1: Rockets

( _Words_ )= Thoughts ( _Words_ )= telepathy

Saffron City, the bustling metropolis filled with skyscrapers, streets littered with cars, and sidewalks full of people. In the middle of winter, the sky was pouring down with rain. At an alley behind Silph co. an armored truck pulled up to a stop. A man dressed in a black uniform with a bright red 'R' centered on his shirt looked cautiously around before stepping out.

"We're clear." he said before stepping out into a puddle.

Six more men stepped out carrying what looked to be hefty bags of money.

"The boss is gonna be proud ain't he? We might just get a raise with what we pulled off" one said.

"Good luck with that, Lord Silver would want more jobs like this done before he'd give you a raise." Another said.

"Well, what if I asked him nicely?" he laughed, already knowing the answer.

"Open the door already, these fucking clothes ain't waterproof!" a different rocket shouted.

"Don't yell at me, you're not a higher rank. I'll take my sweet ass time if I please."

The other, now clearly annoyed shouted, "Open the fucking door before I kick your ass!"

"Ha! Kick _my_ ass? Your pokemon got killed during the mission huh. Sucks for you, why don't you visit the fuckers in Lavender Town?" He mocked.

The angry rocket threw his bag down, "You really wanna go there?"

"I'm already there," he shoved the other rocket into the truck, "What are you going to do about it?" he said reaching for the pokeballs on his belt.

The angry one lunged at him swatting the pokeballs away, unknowingly releasing the pokémon. A gloom and a growlithe.

"What the fuck are you guys doing!" said a blue haired man with an 'R' on upper right of a white shirt stepping out from the door.

"J-just playing around Apollo, you know just goofin' off" The not so angry rocket said getting off of his now bloody comrade.

"We don't _play_ in Team Rocket. What are you, one of the little brats Lord Silver picked up?"

"No sir."

"Then pick up these bags before someone see-"

He stopped when he noticed a figure move from behind a garbage bin.

"What the fuck was that?" Apollo asked his subordinates.

"What was wha-"

The figure appeared from the shadows and turned out to be just a boy. Before Apollo could tell his men to stand down the boy grabbed the bag on the ground and took off running.

"Gloom use sweet scent" The bloody rocket said.

"Sweet scent? Why would you use sweet scent and not sleep powder or stun spore!?" Apollo asked angrily.

"My gloom doesn't know those moves sir"

"Go find the boy. Now!" Apollo commanded.

The rockets left and came back shortly after

" There's too many people out, we can't just walk in public if we're wearing our uniforms." one of the grunts said.

"Yeah, besides, the kid had a pokemon that could use teleport. He got away before we could even get close."

"Useless!" Apollo snarled at his underlings. He pulled out his specialized rocket pokegear, "Calling all rockets, calling all rockets. Be on the lookout for a child carrying a large bag. Ear length wavy black hair, approximately 5" 6', wheatish to light brown to tan complexion. Around the age of 12 I presume. He has taken valuable items from, _inadequate team members_ " he ended his transmission staring daggers at the rockets who were arguing.

"It wasn't our fault," one of them defended.

Growlithe started barking and nudged his rocket to get up.

"You picked up the sweet scent, c'mon let's go growlithe" he stood up slightly woozy, blood dripping from his nose but ran after his pokemon.

Apollo sighed then said, "I obviously can't trust him. The rest of you take the remaining bags inside. I'll deal with the brat myself" he took off after the bloody rocket.

The boy ran into another alley "Good job abra! Using teleport in the middle of the sidewalk was a smart choice if I don't say so myself. They'll never find us" he said proudly. "Now we can buy some food with this mon-"

He felt around the bag but all he could find were pokeballs.

"W-where's the money? All that's here are stupid pokeballs. Argh. We can't get food with this."

He rubbed his stomach as the hunger pangs kicked in, he hadn't eaten in the past two days and now, it seemed like it would be three.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I thought Team Rocket would for sure have money."

"You are holding money kid. You just don't see it yet. Actually, you're holding _my_ money." A well dressed red haired man said entering the alley.

"You don't look like a rocket to me"

"I _am_ Team Rocket!" he stated with authority.

"Abra. Teleport!" He closed his eyes then opened them, still in the same place. "Abra, te-le-port."

He looked down to see Abra sleeping with it's signature snot bubble. It would be _at least_ 12 hours before he woke up again.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Seems like your luck's ran out kid." The red haired man stepped forward revealing himself to be no more than a few years older. "You got balls kid, I'll give you that. I like your balls...Wait, wait that came out wrong. Your guts I meant, I like your guts. I saw you run here after you appeared out of nowhere. Just moments before I got a call about someone stealing from me. _Someone_ , who fits your description."

"Take the stupid pokeballs, I don't want them anyway." he picked up Abra and ran to the other side of the alley only to bump into the same rockets he took the bag from.

"Uhh, sorry" he said before a punch, sent him to the ground.

"Lord Silver? What are you doing here?" Apollo said after bending the corner.

"I got the call after I saw this kid running over here. I thought I'd deal with him personally."

"A-as you wish Lord Silver" Apollo said stepping back

"What's your name kid?" Silver asked

The boy laid in a puddle on the ground feeling his broken nose.

"He asked you a question!" the grunt said kicking his side.

"Guaaah," he screamed, feeling the steel-toed boots crack a rib.

"No need for violence" Silver said the the grunt. "I'll ask you again. What's your name kid?"

"Kian, my name is Kian" he quickly said out of fear.

"Well Kian, how would you like a job?"

"What?!" all three said in unison.

"You can't be serious" Apollo said in disbelief.

Silver looked at Apollo, "You two, go back to Silph and take this with you." Motioning his hand toward the bag of pokeballs, "I'd like to speak to Kian without you two. Oh, and next time be more inconspicuous. We are team rocket after all, no need attract any unnecessary attention leaving in your uniforms. Don't want a Jenny bringing you in for questioning now do we."

The grunt picked up the bag and went on his way, nose still leaking from the altercation with his fellow rocket.

Apollo stayed for a moment until Silver affirmed that his words were an order, not an option.

"I was just about to have lunch across the street at the Saffron Cafe, would you care to join me?"

"Y-yea" Kian said hesitantly. His ribs didn't hurt so bad now that food was in the equation. _If only abra were awake_ , he thought, retracting the pokemon back to its ball.

As they walked in the cafe, Kian felt the warm breeze of the heater. He hadn't been in a heated room in quite some time. He followed Silver dripping a trail all the way to the backroom labeled V.I.P. Silver sat down at a table facing a window that showed the alley they had come from. There were two others in white rocket uniforms at the table.

"This the kid?" A woman with red hair and scarlet eyes said.

"Yes Athena, this here is Kian, the thief who stole from us."

 _(Athena_ , he thought in his head. _She's beautiful but, she must be a bad guy, girl, since she's with Team Rocket. Wait... does that make me a bad guy now?)_

"Something on your mind?" Athena asked Kian, noticing he was staring.

"Umm, nothing." His stomach growled like a wild arcanine.

"Oh, you must be hungry" she said, "You can sit next to me. Is there anything in particular that you like?"

He shook his head no, so she ordered his food for him. 20 minutes of hearing them talk about stuff he didn't understand, and averting his eyes when Athena caught him staring from time to time, the food finally arrived. Two massive Kingler claws, one for Athena and one for him.

"Uh Athena, I don't know how to eat this"

"Here, let me show you. Grab the claw cracker like this and squeeze down." She popped open the claw with ease.

When Kian tried it he squeezed and squeezed, but the claw cracker wouldn't work for him.

"Need some help?" She asked.

He nodded yes. She grabbed his hand to demonstrate the technique and his heart started pulsing faster. ( _Her hands are too soft to belong to a criminal),_ he thought.

Her hands were also strong, she was squeezing hard to show that it takes a lot of pressure to crack a claw. Much more pressure than she had anticipated. She squeezed down on his hand causing his knuckles to collide unpleasantly with each other.

 _*Crack*._ The claw opened exposing the tender juicy meat.

"Finally" she said with a relieved breath, "They must have given you a kingler chief, they have harder claws due to fighting over mates, territory, and tribal superiority"

His hand was sore but that didn't stop him from eating the claw. He ate till he was full and even then there was enough meat left in the claw for him and abra to save for 3 days.

"So," Silver said, mouth full of some kind of pasta. "you never said anything about my offer."

"About joining the rockets, I don't know" Kian said

"Well, what else are you going to do?" Proton, the other man asked, playing with his green hair.

"I don't know."

"Where are you going to go?" Athena asked.

Kian paused for a moment then uneasily said, "I-I don't _have_ anywhere to go."

"So you're homeless then?" Silver asked.

"Y-yea."

"So, why not come with us?" Athena questioned.

"Because you're bad guys, everyone knows that," Kian replied.

"No," Silver said, "Good, bad, It's all just a simple matter of perspective. You stole from us that makes you a bad guy right? Or think of this, we just fed you, a homeless vagrant who stole from us. Does that still make us bad guys Kian?"

"Uh, I, don't know"

"We're a lot alike Kian. You took from us because you could, and we take from others because we can. Those pokeballs you took come from Johto, certain pokemon can only be found in Johto. So we _acquired_ them so we can sell them to the highest bidder. We're business people, not bad guys Kian. My company, the Sakaki Corporation a legitimate business, owns this cafe, a legitimate business. It's also now the majority stockholder of Silph co. yet another legitimate business. Team Rocket actually helps a lot of people out. We want to help you out Kian, I see potential in you"

Athena rested her hand on his arm, "Yeah Kian, we only want to help you."

Her touch rattled his hormones, he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"So what do you say Kian, do you want to be a rocket?" she said rubbing his still damp arm.

She was warm,but he wasn't sure if it was really her, or just the heater but either way his decision was made.

"Will there be food?" he said jokingly

"Of course, of course, but remember one thing Kian," Silver said with a dramatic pause "when it comes to Team Rocket only the strong survive. Are you strong Kian?" His friendly face turned serious.

"Would you have brought me here if you didn't think so?" Kian replied.

"Very well. You'll start with the junior rockets. I expect you to excel" his smile returned seemingly satisfied with Kian's answer. "Athena, take Kian to the Celadon facility. That's where we weed out the weak. Prove me right Kian, you'll be unhappy if you don't. Here, take my coat, It'll keep you warm" Silver handed it to Kian, taking his umbrella instead and told Proton to bring the car around.

"You ready to go Kian" Athena asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Two to-go containers please" she said told the waitress.

Silver and Proton went to Silph co. to handle business while Athena took Kian to Celadon. Kian was silent for most of the hour drive, only asking a few questions about how the rockets operate and what he signed up for. He learned that he would be screened for any physical or mental defects. He learned that he would be trained in both armed and unarmed combat, go to a school teaching basic curriculum at an accelerated level, and learn to skillfully command pokemon in battles.

"So how old are you Kian?" Athena asked to break the current silence.

"I turned 14 last month"

"How long have you been homeless?"

"Three, four years, something like that"

"What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it. Maybe some other day" he sighed, looking at the rain fall on the window.

"Okay, well I'll just tell you a little about myself then. My real name is Ariana, Athena is just my code name. Once I became an executive I got a code name, cool right? I've been a member of Team Rocket since I was 15, when I beat the nugget bridge challenge. That was nearly 4 years ago so you can do the math on my age. We had smaller numbers back then so I was able to climb the ranks quickly. You have to be ruthless to climb up the ranks Kian. Can you be ruthless?"

"I'll find out" he answered unsure.

"So where was I? Oh yeah climbing the ranks was easy after Boss Giovanni disbanded the rockets. Archer, I mean Apollo, that's his executive name, recruited me. I was just a trainer back then with 6 or 7 badges, I realized I could make more money with Team Rocket so I said fuck it and joined up. Apollo was kind of the leader of what was left of the original rockets, until Silver came along that is. He's Giovanni Sakaki's son and the rightful heir, so the rockets flocked to him when he appeared even if was just a kid back then. Not that much older than you are now. A few years back some rockets in Johto claimed to be the real Team Rocket. We took care of them." She laughed.

"Took, care of them?" Kian asked.

"Yeah, took care of them. Their leader had kidnapped a bunch of kids to form the Junior Rockets, s'posed to loyal minions to him. They were all between 8 and 12. After we beat him, Silver gave them a choice to join us or go back to their homes. There was about 200 kids but only about 50 joined us. Now you're one of them."

She stopped talking to focus on the bumpy slippery road that led to Celadon.

"I like long walks on the beach, my favorite color is green, favorite snack is vanilla ice cream topped with diced pecha berries, I like romantic comedy movies, and men with wavy hair" She said rubbing his head with her free hand.

"Um, when did this turn into a dating show?" Kian asked laughing.

"When you started staring again" she said.

His expression changed, "Oh, you noticed. Sorry I-"

"Don't be. You probably just hit puberty not to long ago. You're also not the only junior rocket who's taken an interest in me" she chuckled, "But you are the first junior rocket who's caught my interest," Kian blushed, but didn't say anything. "Something's different about you I can feel it. I bet Silver felt it too"

10 more minutes of driving then Ariana said, "We're here. No turning back now Kian. Welcome to Team Rocket."


	3. Episode 2: Lunch time

( _Words_ )= thoughts ( _Words_ )= telepathy

It had been a few months since Kian became a member of Team Rocket, or a junior rocket to be specific. He liked it there at the underground facility they nicknamed Rocket Academy, he had a bed, his own room, and was doing well in his classes. The only problem he had was a lack of friends. Despite the fact that there was 47 other junior rockets none of them really talked to him outside of class time. He had associates, people he knew, but it was little more of a simple hi or bye when walking through the halls. At lunch he always ate alone, the food wasn't quite as luxurious as a kingler claw, but it was four-star quality food so he and abra were more than happy.

There was a girl in his class a year older than him, she always ate alone too, so today was the day he would ask to eat lunch with her. He was nervous but he swallowed his nerve and walked by her twice pretending to look for a seat.

"Hey, Karen right? I see you in class all the time, I was wondering if I could si-"

"No," she said not even bothering to look up at him.

"But I-"

"No!" she said louder, still not looking up.

"Okay," he sadly said turning away.

He sat down alone once more and began eating his meal sharing it with his abra. Abra didn't take a liking to the pokémon food they had and Kian didn't mind sharing his. He noticed that Karen had barely touched her food. Now that he thought about it, he never actually saw her eat. He and abra finished their food and still the food on her plate stayed in placed. He was still hungry so he recalled abra and went back to ask for her tray.

"Hey, Karen I noticed you haven't eaten anything. I was wondering if I could have your tray of food."

"You want my food?" She asked finally looking up. Her silvery-blue eyes met his green eyes.

"Yeah" he said with a gleaming smile.

"Take it." she said knocking the tray onto the floor.

"What was that for?!" Kian asked confused.

"I want to be alone, and you keep fucking with me. That's why."

 _(Alone, she_ wants _to be alone?),_ he thought to himself. That concept didn't make sense to Kian. He had been alone for so long that he was tired of it, yet she wanted the very thing he despised.

"I-I just wanted the food you weren't eating" he replied still confused.

"Well there it is" pointing to the floor, "Now leave me alone!" she shouted, causing everyone to look their direction.

"I just-"

"Leave. Me. Alone." she said quieter but with more venom.

Kian ran out through the double doors, leaving before anyone could see the tears that left his eyes. He knew words could be harsh, but coming from his crush, they cut right through him. He ran towards his room, eyes filled with tears, he could hardly see in front of him. He crashed into a rocket, an executive rocket at that. He saw the white uniform and immediately started to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he said, quickly wiping his tears, a sure sign of weakness. It was Proton he crashed into and next to him was Athena. He hadn't seen her since the day after she dropped him off here.

" You're lucky Silver likes you kid" Proton said annoyed, "If you were any one of those other brats..." he laughed, "let's just say you'd hate me right now."

"Hey Kian," Athena said, "long time no see. We were about to head to the cafeteria for some grub, you hungry?"

He was, but his answer was, "No, I'm not all that hungry"

"C'mon with your appetite, I know these portions aren't enough for a growing boy like you." She replied, grabbing his hand and all but dragged him along.

He forgot how strong she was, as they got closer to the door he managed to pry his hand loose and said, "I don't want to back in there."

A confused Athena asked, "Why? Is someone bullying you? I can put an end to that right now." she affirmed.

"No I'm not getting bullied. Even if I was, having you help would only mean I'm not capable of handling it myself."

"So what's the matter Kian?" She bent down and asking him face to face, seeing the signs of tears on his still wet face.

"Nothing" he lied.

"Kian, tell me what's wrong! That's an order," she commanded, wiping his face with her thumb.

He sighed, "Okay, so there's this girl I like. I just, I just wanted to eat lunch with her, but she said no, then started yelling at me. I left, but I noticed she wasn't eating so I asked her for her food. She flipped the food tray on to the floor and started yelling at me again. Said she wanted to be alone. I don't know why, but it made me sad and I ran out so no one would see me cry. Then I bumped into Proton and here we are."

"Hell hath no fury, like a woman's scorn." Proton said laying a hand on Kian's shoulder, "I understand kid. I've been through the same, you'll get over it...maybe" trying his best to console him.

"If there's something you should know about us women, it's that we can be _really_ mean at times. You did the right thing by running out. If she saw you cry it would have made her think less of you, women like strong men, and girls like strong boys I guess." Athena stood up. "Pull yourself together and let's go eat"

Kian took a few deep breaths and walked towards the door with the executives. The perverted eyes of hormonal boys followed Athena from the door to wherever she went. She had a unique uniform that consisted a long sleeve white shirt with black trimming, standard R on her right bosom. A black belt to holster her pokeballs, a long white skirt extending just inches past her knees with a slit down the side exposing her lower legs and mid-calf high heel boots clicking with every step. She was eye candy for young boys and her fellow rockets there as well.

"So lemme guess, It was the girl with the blueish hair right?" Proton asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Well, the food is still there on the floor, and she looks like she doesn't want to be fucked with. Damn kid, don't you know how to read body language."

"Th-they don't teach us that here."

( _Hey dude don't worry about Karen she's just like that sometimes_ ) a voice said

He recognized the voice, but it wasn't from Athena or Proton. He started freaking out looking around him.

( _Over here_. )

Kian looked around thrice more before he saw a younger kid waving at him.

( _Yea, me_ _)_ he said without moving his lips.

Kian heard him as if he was right next to him yet he was on the other side of the cafeteria.

His eyes widened when he realized it was Will or 'Weirdo Will' as the other kids called him. He was supposedly psychic but Kian never believed it until now.

 _(Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head!)._ Kian thought hard and fast with his eyes clenched shut.

 _(_ _Woah, it looks you're freakin' out dude. I can't read your mind, not yet at least. I'm not that good, I can just send my thoughts to you. Anyways about Karen, don't worry about her. I'm her best friend and she doesn't even want me sitting next to her. She doesn't trust a lot of people. You want my cookie?_ _)_ raising a cookie in the air.

Kian shook his head no, he had five already, the perks of eating with executives.

"Will, are you fucking with Kian?" the boy next to him said.

"Don't fuck with him man. I heard that Lord Silver hand picked him after the guy killed 6 policemen and a Jenny single handedly. Plus he's eating with the _Executives_... not even normal Rockets get to eat with them" another spoke.

Will replied, "I'm not messing with him, and he doesn't look like a killer to me. If he was, I'm sure he wouldn't have ran away from Karen."

 _(hmm speaking a Karen...)_ Will thought to himself

"Well the girl seems to be looking at you now." Athena said eating the diced slowpoke tails.

Kian turned around to see, "Umm, I think she's looking at you" he replied.

Athena almost choked on that remark. "Oh , no that can't be." She looked at Karen and made direct eye contact.

"I see now, those eyes. Karen, I remembered her name but lost her face." Athena sighed, "She's had a rough time with the faux rockets in Johto. I think I know why she'd want to be alone."

"I don't get it. I was alone for 3 years after my parents were killed in front me. I hated every minute of it. Every, single, one." Tears came streaming down his face, "Abra was my only friend but even then he's just a pokémon not a person. If I ever find the man with the ice mask. I'll rip his fucking heart out like he did to me! He made me alone and I hate him for that."

"Kian, you're crying" Proton whispered.

"No, these ain't the same tears as before." he sniffled, "Karen, she made me sad but he, these tears are, they come from rage. These are gonna be the same tears coming from my eyes when I finally kill him."

"Hi, Karen", Athena said casually to the girl walking up.

"Hi Athena." Karen replied walking up to their table.

Kian didn't hear and continued his heartfelt rant.

"I'd kill him 1000 times if I could." He slammed his fist into the table. "I hated being alone. _Hated it._ I don't get it. She'll be lonely the rest of her life if she keeps acting like that, then she'll know just how I feel. No one to help you. No one to console you." He sniffled, "No one who cares about you... At least she has a best friend, I didn't even have that. I _don't_ have that besides abra." He paused. "I'm not hungry anymore" He stood up from the table and made eye contact with Karen standing next to him.

"What do you want?" he muttered.

"Will wanted me to give this to you" she said with a half-smile, extending her hand to reveal the cookie.

He smacked the cookie into the air and out of her hand, "I'm not hungry." he said coldly turning away.

"I was trying to be nice, you idiot." she said

"Fuck off! Will probably hypnotized you or something. I don't need your pity, Will!" he shouted

"Will couldn't hypnotize me if he tried. He asked me to give this to you, so I did. I felt kinda-"

"I said. Fuck off!" he interrupted.

"That's the last time I'll ever be nice to you."

"What are you still doing here. Bitch, leave!" he bellowed.

"Kian?" Athena said shocked not believing it was him for a moment.

"What did you say to me!?" Karen asked

"Bitch. Leave. Do you comprehend that? You want to be alone, go be alone ."

Karen's face reddened with rage. Her breaths got deeper as her hands opened and closed repeatedly into fists. She picked up Kian's tray and launched it at him. Kian closed his eyes as the food came at him. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and the tray and food was floating in place.

Karen growled, "I hate you!" and stormed off towards Will, then smacked him in the back of his head.

Will lost his concentration and the tray fell to the ground.

"I see why that weird kid was recruited. That was pretty cool, huh Athena" Proton said stuffing his face.

Kian felt bad now, he just cursed out his crush. Any hope of them having lunch was completely lost now. He was angry and wasn't thinking straight.

"She was being nice" he sighed, "Great job, Kian." he said to himself.

"Dude, what the fuck was that?" Will said walking over. "I finally convince her to talk to you, which wasn't easy by the way, and you go and do that"

"I-I was..."

"He was upset that was all" Athena finished for him. "I'll go talk to her for you."

"No, I'll talk to her" Will said.

"No. I'll talk to her, or at least try to myself" Kian said.

"She probably went to her room. Second floor door 13" Will said.

"I'll go with you, just in case", Athena said wiping her mouth after finishing her meal.

When they got to the door Kian knocked twice.

"Go away!" Karen shouted through the door.

"Karen, it's me Kian. I, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was just mad thinking about my parents that's all."

"Go away!" she replied.

"Okay, I just wanted to let you know if you came like, three minutes earlier it would been a different scenario."

"Karen, It's Athena. I know you want to stay locked up in your room but the evaluations begin in twenty minutes and I'd like you to come down to the fields with us"

A brief moment later and the door opened. The first thing she did was punch Kian in the chest, sending him backwards into the wall whilst knocking the wind out of him.

"What, the, fuck" he said with shallow breaths.

"Apology accepted. Be grateful, I'm not a very forgiving person, I still hate you though"

"Karen, that wasn't necessary" Athena said

"It's okay, she hits like a girl" Kian said jokingly before Karen punched him once more.

"Okay, you deserved that one" Athena said laughing.

Walking up the stairs, Kian asked what was on his mind, "What are we being evaluated for?"

"Usually every three months or so we just go around make the juniors battle each other to see how they do. Silver had an idea since we now have 48 junior rockets. A 4 part tourney, the more you win the more prizes you get."

"Tourney? What's that?" Kian asked.

"Another way to say tournament you idiot." Karen said.

"I'm not an idiot, so don't call me that" He replied.

"I'm not a bitch, but you called me that!" she said shaking her fist.

"I said I was sorry" he mumbled.

"In his defense, you are acting really bitchy" Athena said. "So Kian, what moves does your abra know?" changing the subject.

"Teleport and shadow ball, I stole the TM from a shop a while back." he said.

"That's it? You'll never win with just those two moves."

"I have a few TMs, you'll need them. How about you Karen?"

"My umbreon knows taunt, swagger,quick attack and feint attack. My houndour knows ember, bite, smog, and howl. I have a ghastly but I don't think I'll need him" Karen replied

" A great move set for both. You should learn from her Kian. I'll give you both some other things too."

"Hmph, whatever" Kian muttered

"Uh, Athena isn't that kind of cheating though?" Karen asked.

"Cheating, no. If I gave you these things in the middle of a battle, yes. This is favoritism, not cheating."

"Favoritism, how so?" Karen replied.

"I'll let you in on a secret. There are going to be three winners since 48 people would lead to 24 on the next round, that would lead to 12, then 6, then 3. Those 3 will be promoted to admins of the Juniors. There are also 3 executives here to oversee the tourney, and we each chose a favorite we would want to be promoted. Petrel, the head rocket of the school chose Will, Proton chose you Kian, and I chose Karen. We set up the tournament so that none our favorites could eliminate each other, but you each still have to win 4 matches in a row."

"That'll be easy" Kian said worry free.

"Not so easy for you Kian, you only have one pokemon, and nearly everyone else has two or three" Karen said.

"Oh" he said with lost confidence.

"Here." Athena said handing them something

"What's this?"

"They're rare candies," handing one to the each of them. "For every match you win, you get one rare candy. They make your pokemon stronger by leveling them up"

"Cool I'll give it to abra right now."

He released abra and gave him the candy. Soon after it began to glow a luminous white.

"No!" he shouted nearly grabbing his pokemon before Karen stopped him.

"What are you doing?" she said

"Abra, I've got to save him!"

"Save him? From what?" Athena asked.

"From exploding."

"Exploding? Wow you really are an idiot Kian. He's not exploding, he's evolving" Karen explained with a palm to her face.

"That's evolution? I've never seen a pokemon evolve before, cool"

"Never?" Athena said.

"Nope. I've seen a pokemon explode before though. It glew white just like that then boom, killed itself. Abra's been like this plenty of times I shook him out of it because I was scared. Abra's all I have left I couldn't lose him too."

"You really do hate being alone, huh?" Karen asked.

He nodded yes watching abra transform, getting bigger.

"Fine" Karen said

"Huh? Fine what?"

"You can eat lunch with me... but only if you win, or at least come close. I'm gonna be an admin and I won't associate with weaklings."

 _(Yes!)_ He thought to himself.

"I think your abra was well overdue for an evolution" Athena said at the sight of the now evolved pokemon.

"Abra, you gotten so big now"

"Ka-dabra, ka-da" his pokemon said nodding.

Kian smiled, "Oh right you're a kadabra now. You've been an abra for so long, I'm sorry for holding you back." he turned toward Athena, "Now about that TM?"

"I've got the perfect one for kadabra." she said back.


	4. Episode 3: Tourney

( _Words)_ = thoughts ( _Words_ )= telepathy

The tourney had already progressed to it's second round, the favorites had won their first matches against the other junior rockets. The one-on-one battles had taken place in one of the six official league sized pokemon fields. Will, his two natu and slowpoke defeated a rocket with two growlithes. Karen bested a zubat, golbat combo with only her umbreon. While Kian and kadabra easily beat two rattatas. Things seemed easy for the trio at the moment.

"Raticate, use hyper fang." a junior rocket said.

His burly rat pokemon opened its wide jaws, front teeth glowing and lunged towards kadabra.

"Abr- I mean kadabra use psybeam," Kian said.

Kadabra, using his spoon created a multi-colored beam of energy aimed at raticate. The critical hit blasted raticate into its trainer sending them both back. Raticate managed to get on all four feet before collapsing under it's own weight.

"Raticate is unable to battle!" the Rocket referee stated. "Do you have any other pokemon kid?" he asked the junior.

"Go machop!" the trainer said, throwing out his ball. "Karate chop!"

"Kadabra, confusion."

A purple wave of energy was sent towards the charging machop.

A direct hit, the wave sent machop back, spinning him around several times till he fell face forward. Machop stumbled to his feet.

"Focus energy." his trainer said.

Machop, still dizzy looked around until he saw what he thought was the enemy pokemon. It lunged towards the figure.

"Machop?" his trainer said as his pokemon came at him with full force

The trainer quickly sidestepped, his pokemon kept charging until he hit the wall, hard, fainting soon after.

"Machop is unable to battle! Do you have any more pokemon?"

The junior rocket shook his head no returning machop to it's ball.

 _(Two rounds down. Two to go.)_ Kian thought.

There were bleachers for observers to sit, he sat with Will and Athena to watch Karen battle.

"Good job, Kian" Will said to his fellow rocket.

Thanks, how's Karen doing?" Kian asked.

"Her umbreon got beat by a machop so she's using her houndour" Athena replied.

"Silly girl, dark types are weak against fighting types" Cory her opponent said.

"Houndour, use bite!" Karen commanded.

Her dog pokemon moved swiftly and took a bite out of machop's arm.

"Chooop!" Machop screamed in pain as houndour's jaws sunk in.

"Now use ember!"

Houndour released the machop's arm only to bark out several small flames in the pokemon's wounded arm.

"Machop use low sweep"

"Dodge then bite again"

Houndour jumped over the low sweep and dug its teeth into machop's shoulder only releasing when he felt machop no longer struggle.

"Machop is no longer able to battle. Do you have any others? the ref said.

"No," Cory replied, looking at Karen pet her blood spattered houndour.

He walked over and asked "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Karen replied.

"Dark types are weak against fighting type. How did you beat my fighting type?" he said through grit teeth.

"That's easy... you're weak, and so are your pokemon" she said bluntly. "There's more to pokemon than just type differences. I won because I like dark types and train my pokemon to win. Simple as that." she stated before walking away.

Karen looked up returning to her seat next to Athena.

"You're in my seat" she said to Kian.

Kian looked around and saw plenty of other seats available.

"Really? There's nowhere else to sit" he said sarcastically.

"Yea there are, but that's _my_ seat."

"Are you always this bossy?" he asked.

"Are you always this annoying!?" she retorted.

"Calm down you two." Athena said "Kian scoot over she was here first"

"But-" Kian stopped and moved himself when Athena gave him assertive stare.

Karen sat down between the two and Will on the other side of Athena.

Everything was peaceful, only for a few moments before Karen jabbed her elbow into Kian's ribs.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?" Kian asked rubbing his side.

"You're too close to me" she chuckled, attacking him with her elbow once more.

"Karen, stop. Kian isn't even that close to you" Athena stated.

"Ugh, fine." she said before sending one final thrust into now bruised ribs.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Kian coughed out.

"Why are you so annoying!?" Karen asked, ready to attack again.

"Enough of this!" Athena screamed.

She moved Kian and Karen so that she was in the middle of them.

"Favorite or not, if you elbow me Karen, I'll send you flying down these bleachers. Understood?" Athena said, making her point clear.

"U-understood" Karen said back.

"Well, I'm next up" Will said, looking up at the monitor making his way towards field #2.

"Good luck" Karen said with joy.

The joy on her face shocked Kian. He wanted to know how to stay on her good side.

"So how did you meet Will? Where you kidnapped together or something?" he asked enthusiastically.

"No not together. He, we, helped each other out..." her face looked at the ground.

"Okay, but how?"

"I don't want to talk about it." she finished coldly.

"I understand" Kian said, reaching around Athena to place a hand on her shoulder.

"You have a really soft shoulder Karen" he said as Athena's body jerked.

"Huh" she said turning to see Kian groping Athena.

Athena said, "Kian, you 2 and a half seconds to move you hand. 1, 2.."

"Gah! I'm sorry I just wanted to pat Karen on the shoulder I didn't mean to touch your... you know"

"Breasts," Karen chuckled," you're such a loser Kian. You can't even say breasts? I bet you even feel weird saying other words like penisor pussy?"

"What! No, I could totally say those words if I want to. Any of them." his insides quivered thinking of saying them outloud.

"Karen you are older, so of course it's not weird for you." Athena said.

"Hey, Athena!" A black clad rocket said walking up the bleachers towards her.

"What is it?" she responded.

She recognized him as Hector, a handsome Rocket she had met while leading a field mission. He had given his number but she never called him.

"You never called me, I hear your arbok can swallow a man whole. I was wondering if you do the sa-"

"Turn around now!" she ordered.

"Hey beautiful, I just want to get to know you like the little one does" looking at Kian, " And I'm much better looking than him."

"Go away, or I won't need my arbok to hurt you"

"Look, fuck these kids. How about me and you go get some food, then head to my place so I could show you my bullet seed" he laughed at his not so funny joke.

"Last warning. Walk away now, or you won't be able to walk away at all." she said in a sinister tone.

"Look baby doll," taking a step closer, "I-"

Hector stopped, feeling something cold pierce his neck, eyes opening wide realizing he had just been stabbed.

"You, crazy bitch." he said, blood filling his mouth.

"Consider yourself fired." Athena said with a smile, pushing him backwards tumbling to the bottom of the bleachers.

"W-where were you keeping that knife at?" Kian asked confused.

"My boot holster of course. Don't ask such silly questions" Athena replied, "Aww, we missed Will's match, that was quick" seeing him cheering with his pokemon. "Oh, almost forgot." Athena pulled out her pokegear, "Athena to maintenance. Can I get a clean up crew to the field area. We have a rocket down he's bloody, and I'm pretty sure he's dead."

A voice responded back "What happened, you kill the guy. Hahaha." clearly joking by his tone.

"I did actually, I don't take disrespect kindly" she responded back to the voice.

After a moment the voice came back but in a more serious tone, "There's a crew coming your way... Remind me not to get on your bad side"

"Thanks, and will do" she said before putting her pokegear away.

"Kian," she faced towards him to see him cowering "What's wrong?" she asked, losing her train of thought .

"You killed that guy because of me, what I did. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch your _booob_ " he awkwardly said.

Karen bursted with laughter at the way he said boob while Athena said, "It's alright. It was an accident." her face changed to one of serious curiosity "It was an accident, right?"

"Of course. But you just killed that guy and you expect me to be calm?" Kian replied.

"Yup. Oh, I remember what I was going to say." She pointed at the large monitor, "Your next on field #5, you should hurry."

Kian bounced up, ready to go almost falling down the bleachers but caught himself. Walking down he saw the dead rocket there, his body tangled between the first two sections of the bleachers.

"Sorry", he said passing the lifeless body.

His opponent approached field #5 with a certain swagger in his walk. "Kian, right? I'm Rodrick and I'm going to beat you." he said releasing a muk.

"You know, you should nicer to Kian" Athena said.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" Karen asked.

"Well this is just a guess, but if I didn't know any better I'd say you're always mean because you like him."

"Me, like Kian...pssh as if. He's an idiot why would I like him? I mean sure he's a _little_ cute I guess... but he's annoying and stupid."

"He's not _that_ stupid," Will said scaring both the girls.

"Where did you come from?!" Athena asked.

"Well, you see, it all started years ago in my mother's womb on a rainy April night"

"Just stop Will" Karen said.

"But she asked." Will said eager to tell his story.

"Hmm, well it seems you're quiet when it comes to most other people, and you're not mean to Will?" Athena said

"Will is different."

"Different from who?" Will asked.

"Kian." they both said.

"She likes Kian" Athena said after.

"I knew it!" he nearly shouted.

"No I don't. I already told you that he's annoying and stupid and I'm like two years ol-"

"He likes you too" Athena interrupted

"H-he does?" Karen said with a smile, covering it with her hand as soon as she noticed it.

"Kadabra. Confusion!"

"Arbok, dodge then use acid". Arbok slithered to the left evading kadabra's confusion attack and spat acid on him. Kadabra dropped his spoon and fell.

"Kadabra!" Kian yelled.

 _(_ _Kadabra, I know you can hear me..._ _)_

"Kadabra is-" the ref stopped when psychic pokemon moved.

Kadabra's mind struggled, levitating to his feet. Beating muk took a lot of energy out of him, now there was only an arbok standing between their victory. His breaths deep yet quick, Kadabra was waiting to strike at the opportune time.

"Poison fang" Roderick commanded.

Arbok slithered towards kadabra ready to bite down.

"Shadow ball !"

Without hesitation, kadabra created a dense ball of dark energy, hitting arbok at point blank range. A cloud of smoke resulted from the contact. When the debris cleared the ref shouted,

"Arbok is unable to batte. Winner Kian progresses to the finals."

" Yes!" Kian said raising a fist.

"D-ab." kadabra panted before fainting. Kian rushed and gave a revive to kadabra bring him back to consciousness.

"You did it kadabra. Thanks"

" That was a good battle. I thought I had you. Guess I was wrong." Roderick said returning his arbok.

"Kadabra did a great job, that's all I can say"

Things would be quick now, only four matches to go and he had to focus on winning his last match.

Karen released her ghastly, battle ready.

"Hypno. Hypnosis!" her opponent said immediately after releasing his pokemon.

"Astonish!" ghastly's eyes began to glow an ominous pink color while hypno's did the same.

"Hypno, what are you doing?"

" My ghastly's faster and astonish made your hypno flinch. He's scared so he won't move till after ghastly does."

" Hypno, psybeam."

His pokemon stood motionless.

"Hypno. Psybeam dammit!"

"Nightshade."

Ghastly created a black and purple aura around hypno, bringing him to a knee.

"Hypno, rest"

Hypno entered a self trance regaining its health.

Karen grinned maniacally, "Dream eater, then nightmare."

Hypno's body had not shown signs of the terror that was going on in its head before he fell to the ground.

" My hypno!" the opponent shouted.

"Hypno is unable to battle! " the ref said.

The challenger walked off, not even recalling hypno back.

Before the final three matches there was a one hour break. The contestants were given a rare candy for each victory, and were 'surprised' by the decision to promote the final three. Kian noticed that during the break Karen had been eyeing him, catching her glances. It made him nervous, the butterfrees in the stomach kind of nervous. It scared him slightly that she wasn't saying anything.

"G-good job Karen" he said, breaking the silence.

"Thanks, you too." she flashed a smile, a genuine smile.

"Where's Will?" he asked.

"He said he needed to meditate so he could win his next match. He's facing a dark-type specalist like me. Since he's a psychic specialist he's at a type disadvantage" she sighed bored.

" Do you think he can win?" Kian asked.

"Types are only the basics, besides that you need to be strategic. Even then, strategy can only go so far without strength. So my answer? Yes I think he can win. Will's a better strategist than me and I know his natu may be small but they're both strong.

With the break now over, the battles commenced simultaneously. The fields surrounded with rockets betting on who would win, and juniors cheering.

Will arrived just as his name was announced. For someone who couldn't see the future he had impeccable timing. His opponent a dark type specialist named Nick shook his hand before beginnig.

"This is a three on two match. No substitutions, no items. The winner will be determined by who runs out of usable pokemon." the rocket said bored from the monotony. "Begin!" he finished raising both hands in the air.

Will threw his pokeball "Natu. Foresight."

"Murkrow, quick attack!" his opponent said.

" Thunder wave, then drill peck" Will commanded.

Natu created a static wave towards murkrow. It struck the bird stoped its flight and crashing it down. Natu's beak began to glow as it kept pecking the wing of the enemy murkrow, disabling it.

"Screech."

Murkrow emitted a sound that hurt natu's ears causing it to back up.

"Quick attack"

"Psybeam!"

Murkrow moved as fast as it could with one wing but ran into natu's attack at close range.

Will's opponent cursed as he returned murkrow and released a sneasel.

"Double team then ice punch sneasel" his trainer commanded.

Sneasel made after images of itself circling natu.

"Natu use-"

Will saw his pokemon get hit with a icy blow. Natu had taken a critical hit but was still standing.

"Natu. Thunder wave! "

"Sneasel. Quick attack!"

Natu used the same static from earlier only sneasel was faster than murkrow and struck a finishing blow.

"Natu is unable to battle!" shouted the ref. Some of the crowd cheered since they had placed bets against Will.

Will released his pokemon "Exeggutor go! Hypnosis."

"Sneasel. Feint attack, then icy wind."

Sneasel moved first pretending to go left but struck right. Then took a deep breath in and exhaled a cold breeze of hail. Exeggutor took damage but managed to hypnotize sneasel.

"Dream eater, then psyshock. If it's still standing, use solarbeam"

Sneasel began shaking violently as his dreams were being devoured by exeggutor. The center head produced a dark purple ball from its mouth and launched it at the snoozing sneasel.

Sneasel awoke in time just to dodge a direct hit by the ball, slightly scathed by it however. Sneasel began making its way to its feet.

"Exeggutor." Will said.

His pokemon nodded knowing what was expected. Sneasel used icy wind.

The attack was countered by solar beam melting through the ice and hitting sneasel directly.

"Winner, Will!"

Karen had healed her pokemon during the break, all three were ready to battle with their trainer.

Courtney, her opponent wasn't a type specialist so would need more than one strategy to win.

She sent out her umbreon while Courtney sent out a charmeleon.

"Smokescreen." Courtney said.

Charmeleon exhaled a black fog from its mouth

Karen told umbreon, "Stay clear of the smoke. Wait for it to disappear."

"Overheat!" was heard from across the dense fog.

Charmeleon went to the edge of the smoke still out of sight before his tail flame grew bigger and brighter. Its entire body glew with a bright red before emitting a powerful blast. Umbreon managed to dodge a direct hit, but the residual heat waves took a toll and burned umbreon.

"Feint attack, then swagger!" Karen commanded.

Umbreon, made its way to attack jumping from side to side.

"Dragon breath!" Courtney shouted at her pokemon.

Charmeleon blasted two blue flames at umbreon's zigzag movement. Dodging both attacks umbreon landed the feint attack, then walked away exuding a winner's confidence. Charmeleon became both angry and confused.

"Taunt." Karen said yawning, using her own form of taunt.

"Don't fall for it! Use dragon breath again!" Courtney shouted angrily.

Charmeleon had taken the bait, rushing after umbreon blasting multitudes of blue flames. The burns that umbreon suffered had slowed it movement it managed to dodge most of the onslaught but was hit by two head on.

"Keep using quick attack umbreon!"

Just as Karen had told, umbreon used the last of her strength to use quick attack after quick attack. Seeing her attacks dwindling charmeleon's flame, Karen ordered umbreon to use feint attack. Umbreon managed to land the attack knocking charmeleon down, before collapsing.

"Both pokem-", the ref stopped when charmeleon rose up having enough energy to fight.

"Umbreon, is unable to fight," he continued.

Gritting her teeth she released houndour, "Howl, then bite." she said immediately.

Houndour barked loudly increasing his confidence then ran toward charmeleon.

"Dragon breath!"

Charmeleon went to make the blue flames but only white smoke came out.

"Shit, no more pp," Courtney whispered as houndour bit down brutally on her pokemon. "Return. Go nidorino, double kick!" not waiting for the ref to say it was over. It was clearly over for her charmeleon .

"Ember!" Karen shouted.

Nidorino quickly launched itself at houndour hitting it four times before houndour could bark out the small flames.

"Bite!"

"Horn attack!"

The trainers said in unison

Nidorino jumped horn first at houndour as houndour jump jaws open at nidorino. Houndour took a powerful bite of nidorino's skull as its poison point struck the roof of his mouth.

Nidonino squealed in pain while houndour's body began to shiver due to the poison now coursing through its body.

 _(This could be bad)_ Karen thought to herself.

"Thunderbolt!" Courtney said.

Lightning surged through nidorino and shocked houndour. All four of his legs began to tremble in pain.

"Ember!" shouted Karen .

The flames were smaller than normal but still hit nidorino before the dog pokemon fell to the ground.

Karen cursed under her breath.

Courtney began celebrating her victory

"Houndour is unable to battle. Send out your last pokemon Karen." the ref stated

He had been the referee one of her earlier matches so he knew she had three pokemon.

"L-last pokemon?" Courtney said swallowing the lump in her throat. "I-I thought that was her last pokemon. E-everyone I've faced only had two. I wasn't, I wasn't prepared for a third."

Karen smiled deviously as she threw out ghastly to deal with a weakened nidorino.


	5. Episode 4: Moonlit Stroll

Kian looked to his left and saw Will commanding one of his natu against a murkrow. He looked to his right and saw umbreon dodging dragon breath after dragon breath.

"Tackle!" Kian heard from across his field.

The trainer had an onyx that didn't listen to him since using rage as its first move..Onix, it was out completely of his control as if ordinary wild one. All kadabra was doing was dodging using assorted moves. Kian hadn't even bothered to command, but rather let kadabra do his own thing.

( _This is so boring...How did this guy even make it this far? Dude can't even use an onyx properly_.) Kian thought.

"Kadabra, you almost done yet?" he said.

Onyx was a sturdy pokemon with high defense but not much health. Kadabra wasn't a pokemon to take things lightly, but Kian could tell kadabra was toying with the massive rock type.

"Dabra." Kadabra said nodding.

He used shadow ball after teleporting behind the rock serpentine.

"Onyx is unable to battle." the bored ref sighed, "Any other pokemon kid?"

"Go, ekans!" the trainer said.

(Ekans? Is this a joke, right? Karen faces a charmeleon, Will is at a _complete type disadvantage_... and I face, a guy with an onyx he can't even control and an ekans? Why does everyone else have some type of challenge).

Kian sighed then nodded to kadabra and let him do whatever. This wasn't a true pokemon battle since he couldn't put his all into it. The first three people he faced were more of a threat than this guy.

Kian heard a crunch and a yelp as he turned to his right. Houndour had taken a bite of a nidorina. It seemed like houndour would falter soon by the way its legs were shaking. He saw to his left in the corner of his eye a bright orange light gathering. When he turned his head completely he saw a solarbeam launched at sneasel.

( _Where did he get sunlight... we're underground?_ ) Kian thought, confused.

Kian decided to watch his own battle, kadabra had levitated above ekans while the snake tried to lunge at him to no avail.

"Kadabra!", Kian shouted, "Psybeam."

Kadabra did as commanded and launched the attack directly overhead.

Ekans eyes were now replaced with the signature swirls of a fainted pokemon.

"Anything else you got kid?" the referee asked checking his watch.

"Rattata, quick attack! Then sucker punch!" he said releasing his final pokemon.

Kians eyes opened wide in disbelief. ( _A rattata? This guy, there's no way he could have made it this far with his choice in pokemon_ )

"Kadab-"

Kian's jaw dropped when the rattata lunged into the air and took kadabra down from his elevated position then landed a cheap blow once he hit the ground.

"Confusion!" Kian shouted.

Kadabra launched three confusion waves but rattata swiftly dodged them all.

( _What the hell? I've never seen a rattata this fast before_ )

"Quick attack then hyper fang!"

"Kadabra. Enough playing around, wait for it to get close then use shadow ball."

Just as Kian had said kadabra waited till rattata got close then blasted it away with the shadow ball.

"Congrats you win." the ref said monotonously before walking away.

The three winners were taken by their executives to another wing of the building.

"Congratulations!" Silver said cheerfully walking through a door. "You are now among the elites of Team Rocket."

"Thanks" Will said. "So does that mean we get a raise? Because I want the new 3ds xl."

"Sure but what'd you do with your allowance, all Juniors have a stipend of ₱10000 a month?" Silver replied.

"I bought stuff at the Celadon Mall. I may have chosen to stay with Team Rocket, but I still give gifts to my family and friends back home in Cherrygrove"

"Wait, wait, wait...we get _paid_?" Kian asked

"Didn't I tell you that?" Athena asked.

"No, no you didn't. I've been here for like 3 months."

"We're an organized crime syndicate Kian. Do you really think people volunteer for this and get paid noting? . Who do we look like, Team Magma or Aqua? No, we're in this for the money, for the betterment of ourselves, not the environment. But, I digress. Kian," Silver said, " I want something from you?"

"What do you want Silver?"

"That's _Lord_ Silver" he stated with base in his voice, "What I want from you, is your kadabra."

"M-my kadabra? B-but why?"

"You have a powerful kadabra, that's why?"

"He's my only pokemon" Kian defended.

"I wouldn't leave you empty handed." He released a machoke. "This machoke, is named Apex because he won a battle royale between 50 machops. Quite entertaining actually, then he evolved right after. I even beefed him up with a few rare candies. An excellent replacement if I don't say so myself."

Kian released kadabra.

"Kadabra, Sil- _Lord_ Silver wants me to trade you for this machoke. I don't wan-"

( _Kian, It's okay.)_

Kian looked at Will confused, who returned it with his own confused look

 _(No Kian, it's me.)_

"K-kadabra you can talk? Why haven't you talked before?"

 _(No. This is a telepathic link to communicate with you. I've only just become a kadabra today so I don't know the full extent of my abilities. But... if Silver wants me, then let him have me. We've been through so much. Silver was the one to rescued us from the harshness of the outside world. He fed us, clothed you, made us stronger... Our separation is only a small price to pay in gratitude for all that he has done.)_

"Okay, I'll do it" Kian said to Silver, holding back his tears.

"Good, good, good. Now return him to his ball and place him in the trade machine" Silver said, recalling Apex.

Kian sighed and returned Kadabra. He placed the ball in the machine and picked up the machoke's ball after the transfer.

"Now release the pokemon!" Silver said like a game show host.

Both pokemon glew with the now familiar glow.

"You know, for a reason even the greatest professors don't know, there are some pokemon that can only evolve after being traded to a new owner.

"Zam" Alakazam said in his new form.

"Cham Ma" Apex said, flexing his four arms.

"Woah." Kian said in amazement. "Two spoons eh" he said chuckling.

( _To channel my psychic energy.)_

"Cool...Well, I guess this is goodbye buddy"

Karen walked up to Kian and placed her hand in his gripping it, "It's okay," she said, "You're not alone anymore."

( _Is Karen holding my hand?_ )

"Yeah, you've got us now." Will said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Apex return." Kian said pressing the recall button on the pokeball.

"Think fast." Silver said, throwing something at Kian.

Kian was turned the other way so Karen caught it in his place.

"What's this?" he asked now facing Silver.

" It's Alakazam's ball. I never wanted your pokemon, just your loyalty. This was just a way to prove it. The others had tests similar to this when joined. Apex is yours to keep. Consider it a gift from me to you on your promotion. Now, to celebrate."

"Wait. What about us?" Karen asked.

"Oh, I suppose you want new pokemon as well. Right I can't play favorites, that's just not fair"

Athena, Petrel, and Proton looked at each other with sweatdropped expressions.

"You all won, so you all deserve an equal prize. You two are type specialists, right? I don't have either of your types at the moment. Next time remind me... _Now,_ we can celebrate"

A dinner was arranged at one of the many Celadon restaurants that Silver owned. He considered himself a connoisseur of cuisine, only buying out the best restaurants as he saw fit. All but one executive was there, the elusive Apollo. He was always more worried about well plotted plans than relaxation. Silver always said it would be the death of him, the man was only 34 but had obvious grey hairs in his dense blue mop.

The food had arrived and Silver ordered 3 bottles of Oran Berry FireWine.

"We're not old enough to drink" Karen said, noticing he poured more than three glasses for the executives.

"Silver, is a bit of a drinker since he turned 18[ A/N legal drinking age of Kanto]" Athena chuckled.

"We're Team Rocket, we do as we please! If you want to drink then drink" he said raising his glass for a toast.

The curious youths followed their leader in a toast .

"To progress." he said clinking glasses.

"It burns my throat." said Will heaved.

"Kind of tingles" Kian said

"It's actually kind of good once you get past the first stinging part, Will. Take another sip."

"...After you" Will replied.

"So hic* how, how old are you guysh anyway?" Silver asked his under age cohorts

"16"-Karen

"14"- Kian

"12"- Will

They said simultaneously. Silver pretended like he actually heard each of them instead of them just blurted out numbers.

"Ah*hic*h" he said feigning coherence, "So who's driving?"

"Not me." Athena stated with her face noticeably red.

"Call a Taxi" Petrel suggested.

"Yea Petrel, because a taxsi is totally *hic* going to take uss to a ssecret underground basse."

Petrel opened his mouth, but stopped.

"Wait... Didn't, didn't we walk here?" Will asked.

"We did, didn't we?" Athena said, not answering Will but rather asking herself.

Karen started a contagious yawn that ended with Silver.

"We, should head back" Athena said " We've been here since 10 and It's almost 1 a.m and we have these kids with us. The restaurant isn't even open anymore..

"What doess that fuckin' mean?" Silver said, "I've been a trainer shincse I was 10 yearsh old and *hic* I wass out allll night battlin', trainin', *hic* other shtuff-" he yawned. "It'ss getting late maybe we should head back."

Athena sweatdropped, "Sure boss, you always have the best Ideas"

"I don't want to walk though. I think it was 5 and a half _whole_ blocks to the basse" Silver said outstretching his arms.

"I'll walk." Karen said standing from the table

"You su*hic*re?" Will asked

"Yea, you want to come with, Kian?"

"Uhh, sure" Kian said halfheartedly. He really didn't feel like walking, but he also didn't want to wait for...whatever it was they were waiting on.

Karen yanked him out of the chair before he could gather himself. Causing them both to fall.

"You sure the two of you can make it back?" Will asked.

"Of course, no problemo", Karen said rubbing her head not entirely sure.

It was nice night out, not too hot, not too cold. Even the stars were surprising brilliant for this cloudless night, or at least Karen thought so. She hardly said a word to Kian during the walk so far. She was busy in her own thoughts.

( _He likes me... That's, that's what Athena said. I kind of like him too...kind of.)_

She sighed.

"What's wrong?" Kian asked.

"Nothing, just thinking"

"About...?".

Karen blushed and turned away "Just, some things" she replied.

She started thinking of what Athena told her while they were alone (' _If you don't snatch Kian up before he's old enough. I just might' ...I'm older than him but, Athena, she's a lot older than Kian. I don't think he likes her...but then again, he did grab her boob yesterday...)_

"Hey Kian, what do you think of Athena?" she asked

"What do you mean?"

"Y'know like do you think she, looks good, is pretty or someth*hic*ing like that?"

"Well yea, she's really pretty. Sometimes I catch myself staring at her, then get all embarrassed when she catches me." he laughed remembering the awkwardness.

"Oh," ( _Dammit!) "_ it's those huge tits she has isn't it?" she thought outloud covering her mouth soon after.

"Huh? Well...kinda but she has a nice butt too, I don't know why I like that, but yea It looks good on her. Oh and her smile too it's _really_ nice..." He smiled thinking of hers.

Karen sighed once more. ( _Maybe she will take Kian if I Don't. She said I should hurry, but I don't know how. Ugh, I just want to punch him for being so stupid, maybe I'm the stupid one. No it's obvious that I like him, isn't it? I asked him to take a long walk alone with me for a reason. I held his hand earlier dammit! Maybe I should just stop trying, maybe Athena was lying to me... But why would she lie? Maybe Kian does like me. Maybe I should ask him. No, he's the boy. The boy is always supposed to ask the girl, right? What If we do go out and he cheats on me... I'll kill him, yea, yea... but I don't think I want to kill him. Ugh we're not even boyfriend/girlfriend yet bu-_ )

Karen tripped, stumbling over something, she didn't know what. If she saw it she might have avoided it, but now, she was falling face forward to the pavement.

Kian, seeing her fall as if in slow motion grabbed her left arm and somehow managed to swing her back to her feet.

"Woah! That was kind of fun" She giggled.

"That's not funny! Be more care*hic*ful Karen, you could have gotten hurt."

"Aww, are you worried about me?" she asked.

"Yea, maybe I am." he said as they started walking again

Karen let him walk in front of her as she grinned cheerfully. She thought it was gone when she caught up to him.

Kian noticed and said, "You should smile more often. You look a lot better with a smile." he nervously corrected himself, "Not that you don't look good when you don't smile, it's just when you do smile, you look _even better_. Like how the Moon looks nice through the clouds but once the clouds are gone, you can really appreciate it's beauty."

"You mean that?" Karen had always liked the moon, especially on nights like this.

"Of course I mean it, why would I lie?"

"I don't know" she replied

They had walked for 10 more minutes on the long Celadon block. It was now obvious why Silver didn't want to walk. they were still only only on the second block.

"Earlier, you held my hand, why?" Kian asked.

"I wanted to... help you feel better silly, that's all, nothing else" she finished laughing. ( _Nice save Karen._ ) she let out a relieved breath

"Thanks"

"My hand is starting to get cold." she lied, "Could you hold it to warm it up?"

"Uhh sure." Kian replied ( _Doesn't she have pockets?_ )

He reached out his hand and she grabbed it interlocking fingers. it was different then from how she held it earlier.

"Karen, you do know where we're going right?"

"I was following you..."

"But, but I was following you. You said you wanted to walk, so I assumed you knew where to go."

"I actually don't leave the base very often so I don't know "

"Hey look there's a city map, how convenient is that?" he said leaving her hand and rushing to the map.

"The base is four blocks that way" pointing as he was pushed violently into a wall.

"You shouldn't just leave a girl like that, we could have walked here. You didn't have to run" she said reddened with rage

"It was just your hand calm down."

"Calm down! Calm down! What do you mean calm down!?" She exclaimed causing nearby pidgey to flee. "That was special, we were having a moment Dammit!"

"We were lost...how wa*hic*as that special?" he said

"Because we're lost _together_ " she said through her teeth.

"Am I missing something?"

"You're an Idiot, Kian."

"Why are you so me-"

Karen stopped his sentence by putting her lips to his. For three whole seconds Kian was in blissful confusion.

"Wh- what was that?" he said when she pulled back.

"A kiss Kian, I kissed you." she smiled

"Why?"

"Kian, do you want to be my boyfriend?" ( _Did I just say that?)_

"I-I don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know? Athena said you like me and I ... Kinda sorta like you too" she said fiddling thumbs.

"I d- You do?"

She nodded yes with her head pointed towards the ground

"I like you too Karen, but I don't know... you're always so mean to me and I don't want a girlfriend who's always mean to me. Plus you barely even eat, I don't want a malnourished girlfriend... Malnourished is a real word right?"

"Yes, yes it is." she chuckled, "I can be nice, _really_. It's just that sometimes...when I was younger...I ... nevermind" She said storming off.

"Karen."

She kept walking

"Karen!"

Still she kept walking deep in thought.( Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. That's all you are Karen is stupid. I didn't have to push him into a wall. I didn't have to freak out when he let go of my hand... but why did I? Why?... Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Why did I kiss him so suddenly. I wanted to that's why. I don't regret it... but I wish things could have turned out better...This could been different. My whole life could have, should have different. Why did I have to be kidnapped... Why was it me?... Why was it always me?) she struggled to hold back her tears but they came anyway.

"Karen" Kian said softly in her ear as he interlocked fingers like she did earlier, "It's okay. You're not alone, we're together just me and you, you can cry all you want" he hugged her as she hugged back.

She cried for fifteen minutes, Kian held her in the middle of the sidewalk uninterrupted until she was done. His shirt was wet and snotty when she stopped.

"Thanks. I needed that." she said

"C'mon, you were walking the wrong way anyway. Whatever it was you were trying to tell me. It can wait till you're ready" he said with a smile.


	6. Episode 5: Eyes of the beholder

**This chapter was kind of rough to write since it has elements of rape, abuse, and a forced abortion. Sorry for the spoilers but this chapter isn't for the faint of heart.**

"No." Will muffled with a pillow over his face.

"C'mon Will, you're the only person who knows her secrets."

"No Kian... Can you keep it down, _please_. My head hurts from last night, I'm never drinking again." he groaned.

"Only if you TELL ME!"

"Ugh. I said no Kian, if _she_ doesn't want to tell you, then _I'm_ not telling you"

"But why?" Kian protested. "We're boyfriend/girlfriend now we kissed and everything. C'mon we had a moment... a few of them I think" he said scratching his head.

Neither knew that Karen was outside of Will's door eavesdropping.

( _We did have a moment, at least 3 of them. Maybe Will should tell him, then I won't have to. It'll be easier on me, but what will Kian think? I should tell him myself. Yea. No. No._ ) she thought shaking her head.

"Will!" Kian said uncomfortably close.

Will threw a pillow at Kian.

"No dammit! It's Saturday, we get to sleep in, but _nooo_ I have to deal with you at _9 a.m_! Why are you even up this early?"

Kian shrugged his shoulders.

"Wait," Kian said with a lightbulb over his head. "I have an idea, why don't you just use your telepathy to tell me so you won't actually _tell_ me. You can say you _thought_ about telling me" he nudged his fellow rocket with an approving smile.

"Kian, I don't mind telling you-"

( _He better not_.) Karen thought with a balled fist.

"-but if she doesn't want to tell you them I'm not going to"

Kian dragged his palms down his face, "Ugh" he groaned "Please?"

Will stood up, to about Kian's chin in height.

"Get out." He said pointing towards the door.

Kian started shaking Will violently "Will, you, have, to, tell, m-"

As if by sorcery both stood still. Kian's emerald eyes turned cyan while Will's lilac irises turned the same.

[Will's thoughts] {Kian's thoughts}

Will opened his eyes in a strange place.

[Where am I?...At least my head doesn't hurt anymore.]

"Kian" he heard in the distance. Will moved towards the voice, but not of his own power.

[I can't move. What's going on?]

"Yea, mom", Will felt his lips move.

[Mom!? What!? I don't know you lady.]

"How do you like your new pokemon?" the pregnant woman asked.

"It's stupid. I told dad I wanted a charmander. Not a stupid abra. I had him for a week but all it does is sleep all day. It won't even play with me"

[No... Can't be.] Will thought as he assessed the situation.

"Any pokemon can be just as good as a charmander, son. You just need to train it properly." A tall man said walking closer.

[Son...?]

"But I wanted a charmander, and you said you would get me one"

"No, I said I would get you _a_ pokemon, not a specific one"

{Stupid Liar} Kian thought.

[I'm, I'm in Kian's head...but how? Is this a memory?]

Kian angrily kicked the leg of a coffee table, "Ow!"

[Ow! That hurt. What the hell did you do to me Kian?]

"Are you okay baby?" Kian's mom asked.

"Yea, I'm okay mom... Can _you_ get me a charmander?" he pleaded.

"No, I'm afraid not dear. And your father will be busy at work. He's an important man you know."

Will felt his face scrunch up.

[W-why am I mad...Don't tell me I can feel his pain _and_ emotions.]

{All I wanted was a charmander, not this stupid abra.}

[Wow, I would have never guessed there was a time when he didn't like abra.]

 _*CRASH*_ something had broken through the windows.

"Get down!" the father said trying to protect his family.

"Oh, just a few voltorbs. Hey, what are you doing in the city, are you guys lost?" he asked the pokemon.

"Torb vol tor!" the assumed leader said.

It began to glow. Then the others followed soon after.

Kian's dad looked in amazement, "Strange I don't think I've ever seen this many pokemon ev-"

He stopped, eyes wide open when the began to rock back and forth violently.

"Run. Now!" he shouted.

It was too late.

 _*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*_

The voltorbs exploded one after another, destroying much of the home in the process. His father being the closest took the most damage, then he struggled to his feet.

"Someone's coming, hide." he panted while leaning against a wall that hadn't been destroyed.

Kian hid under a pile of dirty laundry, his mother ran a separate way.

"Ahh, a survivor. Good." Kian heard.

"What, do you want? Were those your pokemon?" his dad asked

"Ever observant aren't you. I'll tell you want I want. The Yuko boy."

"What boy?"

"This is the Yuko residence, is it not?" he asked rhetorically.

"You work for the Silph Company, a research director. I saw you on the television with a boy you called your son. The one with the green eyes."

"I don't know what you're talking about" his father said.

{I should've stayed with mom.}

*Screams*

"Well it may be that she knows" he snickered.

[Good thing you didn't Kian]

An ursaring had found his mom hiding amongst some rubble and brought her to the man.

"Where is the boy?"

"Boy?" she said.

Kian moved the clothes slightly to see what was going on.

{If I had a charmander I could fight back} thought with the pokeball in hand.

Kian didn't get a good look but he saw a man faced the other way say "I've had enough of your games, Tell me where the boy is and I'll kill you swiftly, if not-"

"What do you want Money, I have money just take it and go!" the father said,

"I have no use for your currency. I told you, I came here for the boy."

[That voice, why does it sound so, familiar?]

"The one with green eyes. Your son, he had a spark in his eyes, power. He has the aptitude for greatness." the man looked at the woman's stomach. "Would you really risk one child to save another?"

"W-what do you mean?" she asked, hand over her stomach.

The man struck her in the face while the ursaring held her still.

"Hey!" the father shouted limping as fast as he could towards him. "Don't you touch my wife!"

The ursaring's free hand smacked him back against the wall he started at.

"NOOO!" his mother shouted. Kian couldn't see his father, but he knew something bad happened.

"I'll ask you one. Last. Time. Where is the boy?"

"He ran away" she sobbed, "A long time ago"

The man punched her face again, "Do you take me for an idiot!?" he blared, ready to punch her in the stomach.

Will gasped...or at least he thought he did.

Kian rose up from the dirty pile of clothes and stepped forward.

"I'm right here. Leave my mom alone!"

He looked for his dad and saw his neck was drooping in an unnatural fashion.

[No...]

"D-dad?"

"Hiding in a pile of dirty clothes to avert ursaring's nose. Brilliance, sheer brilliance.." he punched Kian's mother in the stomach. Leaving her to fall on the floor as blood left her uterus.

"No!" she cried in agony.

{My sister, she, she hasn't done anything to deserve this} tears leaking from his eyes.

[He just...]

"Kian run!" his mother struggled to get out, but he stood there traumatized not moving.

[Run you Idiot. Why are you standing here. Move!]

"Ursaring, dispose of her" he said walking towards Kian.

His palms got sweaty and abra's ball slipped out, releasing it.

The man came closer, revealing a mask of ice upon his face. "Abra? Hmm, I figured you as more of the charmander type of kid"

[Wait.. that's, that's-]

Kian stood frozen there as abra's eyes opened, a flash of white, then both of them disappeared.

{Where am I? Why am I walking up these stairs? I'm tired, how many flights have I walked up? Where was I even going?}

"Whew, finally made it" He turned to look out of a window. "Man, what a great view"

{Goldenrod sure is beautiful... How do I know I'm in Goldenrod City? I've never been to Johto}

looking at the window's reflection, he saw Will.

{Is that, am I...Will? Oh, I think I get it. Instead of telling me or _thinking_ of telling me you decided to show me. Pretty clever Will, pretty clever.}

Will walked up to a door labeled 'R&D Restricted Access'.

[It's those same noises as before. Sounds like someone's crying. Maybe I should knock...No, what if someone's in trouble?]

Will pushed the unlocked door and saw their boss, the man who kidnapped them, ramming himself into a whimpering Karen bent over a desk.

Will froze at the sight.

{He doesn't know what's going on, but he knows it's wrong.}

"Get away from her you monster!" he shouted running towards them.

Will stopped when he realized the man wasn't wearing pants, ( A/N she wasn't either but all female rockets wore skirts at the time so that's not out of the ordinary)they were around his ankles.

{No. There's no way. This can't be right. Will, you can stop joking with me now. This isn't funny!}

"Don't you know how to respect privacy you little shit." he said pulling up his pants

"Y-you can't do that to her!"

"I can do whatever I want to her. She likes it anyway"

"No! She was crying!" Will yelled.

"So, she always cries. Nothing new, they're tears of joy."

Will saw her laid across the desk with a deluge of tears leaving her eyes.

[She looks like she needs help, like she wanted help all along, but could never get it.]

{How long was this happening? No, no, this isn't real. Will, he's just fucking with me...}

Will ran passed the man to her.

"Are you okay? Do you need help?"

Kian felt himself lifted off the ground.

"Hey let me go!" Will said struggling, but was thrown to the ground.

{Argh. What the hell? That hurt. D-does that mean this _is_ real}

"I'll show you what happens when you interrupt people having a good time."

Will was picked up by his throat.

{I can barely breathe.}

[Can't, breathe.]

Will struggled for air trying to pry away the man's hands.

"L-let him go you monster." Karen said trembling.

He clenched tighter on the young boy's throat.

"You hear that... because of you, she thinks I'm a monster."

He watched the boy's face turn blue then a dark shade of purple.

"Please, let him go and do whatever you want. Just, just leave him alone he only wanted to help."

He turned his face towards Karen, "You think what you say matters, It doesn't" he laughed, "Whether I kill him or not, I'll do whatever I want to you regardless of what you want, or what he wants. I make the choices around here. And I chose you to be my plaything, you should be grateful you little whore... I think I'll try something new and put it in where things come out. "

"W-What?" She asked backing away

"Ohohoho my dear, you'll find out soon enough. I'll be rough just the way you like."

"I don't like any of the things you do to me! Not one bit!"

"Did you not hear when I said _I_ make the choices... _I choose_ what you like and what you don't like!"

Vision blurring Will tried to spit on his masked face but had no saliva or air to push..

"You learn your lesson?"

Will nodded from a momentary loss of consciousness and was let go, falling to the ground.

He started hyperventilating. Kian felt relieved as soon as Will was able to breathe again.

Will lay on floor struggling to breathe steadily, he saw Karen getting punched to the ground and kicked while she was down, over and over again.

"Never, call me a monster again... Do you hear me!?" he said

A bruised purple faced Karen sobbed and nodded.

The man unzipped his pants, "Good! Who makes the choices around here?"

Karen was silent. He hit her once more.

"Who makes the choices around here!?" he shouted in her face.

"You do-o-o." she whimpered with a sniffling cry, tears and snot dribbling down her face.

"Now get your ass on the table so we can finish what the brat interrupted"

[I have to help.]

Will got on his hands and knees crawling, but a boot come his way. Everything went black.

Back in Will's room both began to move again after a synchronized deep breath.

"Will. I don't know what you did, but, but I know what happened. I saw it. No, It was more than that, I-I felt it. It was like, like-"

"You saw the world through my eyes?" Will asked.

"Yea exactly! It would've been cool if... Karen" he sighes

"What thee hell is going on? Just a second ago he was begging Will to tell him, now all of a sudden he knows?" Karen whispered on the other side of the door.

"I felt it, the emotions. The anger, the rage, the hopelessness, all of it. You're an awesome psychic Will."

"That wasn't me... I think, I think it was you. I saw... what happened to your parents that guy he said he saw something in your eyes. Before that happened, your eyes changed color. That might have been what he was talking about"

"I don't actually remember much of what happened, just that my parents died and abra saved me. Are you saying I'm psychic too?"

"No. Psychics can read minds, not live other's memories. That guy was IceMask the same person who took us"

"Really? I'll kill him for all of us then"

"He's dead already when Silver took over the Johto rockets he had Apollo kill him... Can't you put two and two together. All of us were kidnapped by a masked man. You were almost kidnapped by a masked man."

"I never thought of it like that I guess"

Will palmed his face and pointed to the door. Kian opened it and Karen fell ear first into the room _obviously_ snooping.

Kian caught her from falling but she refused to look at him.

"Karen," he said, "I get it now, I understand. You always hit me because that's the only way you know how to show affection, I guess." He could see the tears building up. He grabbed her hand "Just, talk whenever you're ready okay" he said walking with her out of the room.

 **I hope that none of my readers have been through, or go through some of the horrors in this chapter. I haven't and I wish the same for you. This chapter was supposed to bring more seriousness to the story compared to other chapters thanks to a sensitive topic. My family watches a lot of CSI:SVU so that was the foundation to help me get in the mindset of writing this. I'll try to make the next chapter a little more light-hearted. Leave a review about what you think, good or bad just be constructive with your criticism.**


	7. Episode 6: sunder

**Been awhile since I updated a new chapter, my laptop died, charger broke so I've been working on this on my school library in between assignments. Anyways In this chapter(longest so far) I've brought in a few new characters, and sub-plots. Enjoy!**

 **~3 Years Since...**

The school has been phased out, as well as the 'Junior' title for the younger generation of rockets. The Admin Trio had proved their worth over the years, so only Silver and the Executives outrank them. Despite a higher cash flow, unusual disturbances have revealed themselves. Within the Johto branch many rockets have gone A.W.O.L (Absent WithOut Leave) reducing the Rocket influence in Western Indigo.

Kian and Karen have been on/off but were usually still good friends during the off stages. It was Karen's own insecurities that led to most break ups, though, she had a legitimate concern with the last situation.

2 months ago Kian, though respected as an excellent field commander, had failed his solo mission. He was to capture a baby articuno sighted deep in the caverns of the Seafoam Islands. He had actually succeeded in doing so. What he didn't expect however, was the notorious Hunter J after the same prize. A battle ensued between the two, incapacitating their most powerful pokemon, alakazam and salamence respectively. In the midst of fighting, they had unknowingly attracted the attention of momma and poppa articuno. The parent pokemon rescued their child and amidst the chaos, caused the icy ground to collapse. Kian and J were forced several miles underground into the cavern system. Two and a half days they had been forced to cooperate in order locate a way out.

Once free, J was finally able to contact had her airship crew without static interference. She had them escorted to the outskirts of Celadon before heading to Rocket HQ. Silver was caught by surprise that J operated in Kanto. He proposed a partnership, she would cease work in Kanto, and in exchange she would receive a percentage of any contract she sent their way. She initially refused but accepted, after Silver stated a handsome price upfront for her airship blueprints.

Karen had suspicions on how he survived two days and three nights in such thin clothing. Kian _had_ admitted that they were forced to stay close to preserve body heat. Karen however, had other ideas on how they stayed warm. In her mind she knew it was more than just simple body contact.

Seeing J give Kian a hug before departing is what set her off the edge. ( _It definitely wasn't the hug you give a relative, or a friend)._ In all accounts she heard Hunter J was nothing more than a cold blooded, heartless, mercenary. ( _They supposedly tried to kill each other in a cave before the ground collapsed._ _She wouldn't give Kian a hug, unless she felt some type of emotion for him...)_

Contemplating on these thoughts revolving in her mind, she broke up Kian a few days later.

She had been less cordial with this break up more so than any other. When she spoke to him it usually consisted of 10 words or less. She couldn't avoid him completely, due to being high ranking Rockets they had to meet at least twice a month, such as today.

"Repeat that Apollo, I didn't quite catch that" Silver said leaning back in his chair, feet atop the roundtable.

"You heard correctly Silver, our forces in Johto have been dwindling over the past few years, even more this year. It may be due to Lance's military progression. He's been building strongholds, fortifying his territory all over...most likely building up defenses for another war. Perhaps our Johto cousins have been either defecting to join his forces or captured. His military, is also the police force after all. If you think an Officer Jenny is bad, well... you'd hate to be interrogated by a Commander Jenny" he ended with a shiver.

"With numbers lowering, we've been less effective in the west." Athena added, "Meaning less power... Your restaurants and cafes and business fronts are doing fine as a source of cash Silver, but we need a solution to regain our real _power_."

"Money is power!" Silver shouted abruptly.

"Wrong... Money is just a _form_ of power. It can build cities, raise an army, yet at the same time money can only go so far. It can buy loyalty, but that loyalty is only greed. You can't trust someone who is only in it for the money" Apollo said looking at the faces around him. "Besides the power we already _have_ is money. What we need is control, influence, knowledge. What good is money if we have no schemes to use it."

"Spies!" Will shouted confidently, "We need spies in the imperial army, maybe bribe a Jenny or two, to know for sure what they're up to. Lance is more of a threat than the Federation. He's a lot less predictable."

Silver thought for a moment, then said, " I like the idea, but Lance was an egotistical maniac before a paranoid ruler. I'm not sending my people in, he killed his _own_ family members once he knew they rebelled against him."

Apollo released a few tsks knowing Lord Giovanni would've sent in this very boy, his only son, if it would further the goal of world domination.

"Not Lady Clair!" Karen spoke up, "She was the leader of the first rebel group, the JLL. He didn't just spare her life, but reinstated her as Lady of Blackthorne!"

"Well," Kian noted to her displeasure "that's because after him, she's like the most powerful tamer in the Tastu Clan, which would be useful to him at some point. Not only that, but she's the chosen heir to the clan master... Ya'know, the head dragon master in charge of different houses (A/N house=families) that make up their clan. It may have been more of a political thing, than sentimental. He did kill a bunch of his other cousins... just saying" .

"Don't listen to an idiot Boss!" Karen shouted, "Why would Lance let her of all people live if it was political?! He's the _Emperor,_ after all. Shouldn't he have made an example out of her if that was the case? Clair, head of the House Ibuku, rising against her _own_ clansmen, her blood , the 'Emperor' from House Wataru?! Even the majority of their clan sided with Lance over her. It's how she was discovered in the first place. They removed her title as Lady, placed her on house arrest for 5 whole days waiting for Lance to issue her death warrant. Which didn't happen as I just sa-"

"Well," Apollo barged in, "I see what the boy means. Killing Clair may have angered their grandfather, the current clan master. He's been neutral towards Lance's conquests but duxcide, [A/N dux=leader/chief, cide= kill/murder] would have upset several hundred years of their silly clan tradition. They may have sided with Lance over the chosen heir, but I doubt the majority would side with him against their true clan leader. He may have had to deal with more than Clair and her rebels, if half of his personal vanguard went against him."

"No one asked you, Apollo!" she snared.

"Watch your tongue wench!"

Kian stood up, "You watch yours, Apollo!" he threatened.

"This is the thanks I get for defending _your_ point?" Apollo said standing now as well.

"Sit down, both of you!" Athena shouted.

Kian sat down after Apollo with grit teeth. ( _We may not be together right now...but I'm still not gonna to let him talk to her like that)._

"We're getting off topic," Silver said, "I don't a damn about Lance, his cousin, or the whole fuckin' clan. I want progress dammit!" he removed his feet and slammed his fist to the table. "Our numbers are dropping, and our recruitment is at an all time low! We need to show Johto, no the world, that Team Rocket is to be feared. Not A Joke To Be Ridiculed!"

Kian said what was on his mind, "Can't we uh, just help people out or something? You did tell me Team Rocket helps out people too."

They all looked at him dumbfounded.

"You're joking right?" Proton said with a raised eyebrow.

"He has to be" Petral said chuckling.

Kian looked around at the strange expressions on their faces,"I-I'm serious." he said. "Seeing something _good_ might be what people need to want to join Team Rocket"

"No." Silver said bluntly, "I value you and your opinion Kian, but this is serious. We _should_ do something noticeable for publicity, but 'good' is only a matter of perspective, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember" he sighed.

"I got it! The Ruins of Alph are supposed to have something that Lance is after. What else would a crazy leader want besides more power. At least that's what one of the reports from Johto said this morning" Petral revealed raising a folder of papers.

"Good, send our best there immediately" Silver said.

"Uh, Silver, _we're_ the best you have." Athena said, "There's only a few garrisons in Johto now. I'm sure you don't want to leave the fate of our western influence to some grunts do you...?"

"Then you seven'll go. You lot are the strongest members of this organization so I expect you to retrieve more information on this ... By any means necessary."

"Are we taking the airship!" An excited Will exclaimed.

"It's still under construction. Will be for at least another month" Athena explained.

Apollo began tapping his fingers repetitively on the table, a clear tell he was annoyed or nervous, "We don't have much to go off of, but it doesn't seem like we have much of a choice now. I _hate_ spontaneous plans, but Lance may get his hands on whatever he's looking for if we act too late."

Silver stood up and raised his glass, "Rest assured Apollo, glory and power belongs only to Team Rocket! We will rise up and usher in a new era. We'll bring the Indigo under our subtle control. The Empire, The Federation... they'll both be at the mercy of Team Rocket!" Silver said in a mad frenzy.

( _Maybe he is like his father... If only a little_ ) Apollo thought with a snicker.

At the Indigo Palace, Koga approached Lance's throne and genuflects (takes a knee), "M'lord, O' Majestic Emperor, there is news you must hear."

"Speak", Lance says atop the Indigo Throne.

"Your Southern King, Agatha, has passed away last night. Bruno is investigating for signs of sabotage."

"Sabotage... seriously!?" Lance chuckled.

"Yes m'lord, you have many enemies who would strike at those close to you."

"Agatha is certainly no easy target, though. She was 55 years old, a 2 pack-a-day smoker with severe emphysema. I know very well her health would get to her before any rival could."

"Father?! W-what are you doing here?" Koga's daughter Janine said entering the throne room.

Koga rose from his knee saying, "Agatha has passed away and I felt that as his advisor, I should _advise him_ to replace her soon. Lest yet another revolt take place in this power vacuum."

Lance rose from his seat, "The position is yours to take, Koga Kyō Doksu. I'll coronate you this weekend to make it official. It'll be a grand celebration for one of my most trusted allies." Lance paused as a mischievous grin extended over his face. "Just a few years, once this truce is over... those Federation bastards wouldn't withstand an attack from within Fuschia. We'd need to get rid of the Navy units stationed at Vermillion. Once we blockade the port, their economy will falter without trade from us, Hoenn, and the orange isles."

"A devious scheme m'lord. Concerning the future... Hmm, if we were to send a minute number of troops over the remaining course it wouldn't be as obvious compared to amassing at one time."

"If you're gonna stay here, who's gonna be in charge back home? You always said I would be your successor" Janine asked.

"Your aunt, Aya of course. I trained her in the art of ninjitsu just as I did you, remember? When you married Lance, she took over your place as head of the city's defense forces. I only chose you because you're older but it seems she'll take the mantle of Lady Fuchsia now."

"I forgot all about aunt Aya. Who would have thought a few months would decide that much between us."

"Wait?! Wait?! Wait?!" Lance stated, as the hamster wheel of his brain started rolling, "All these years as my advisor and you never once told me, your daughter, my wife...Is a _Ninja_?!"

"My liege, I- I thought it was obvious...She bears the title, Poisonous Ninja Master." Koga said.

"All, I've heard people call her is 'Empress' " Lance clarified with sarcasm.

"Perhaps only Fuschia may be the case"

Janine suggests, "Maybe I can be called the Poison Ninja Queen" she giggled.

"Since I'm already the Crimson Dragon I might as well add king to that" Lance finishes with a smile.

"But, but you're Emperor and Empress are you not? Calling yourselves King and Queen would be a downgrade of your current title."

"Well, now we're Crimson Dragon Lord and Poison Ninja Lady, Emperor and Empress of the Wataru Dynasty! Sovereigns of the Indigo! Mwuahahahahaha!" He laughed manically before coughing to an abrupt pause. "That's a mouthful actually, so it can just be a paper title for official documents and whatnot. So just call me Lance, or Emperor...or any one of the fancy words you like to use okay."

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring*

Koga frantically searched his pocket for his pokegear.

"Ahh, Bruno", he said answering just in time.

"Koga, No signs of any foul play at her residence."

Lance gleams a cocky smile before noticing his own call.

"Very well, Lance has already promoted me to her position as a swift replacement."

"...double check to make sure there's no residual poison anywhere...", Bruno said nearly out of earshot, "Right, well have fun, there's a reason Agatha was the one appointed to the south." _*click*_

Koga stood there, "He thinks I'm a traitor..." he whispered to himself.

"Koga! O' Southern King" Lance said, "One of my officers just confirmed information about a group of rebels set up in the Alph ruins. I _advise,_ that you regulate the law in your territory. Anyone who opposes me, or my rule will be dealt with accordingly. Isn't that right?"

"Yes m'lord. I will be there to meet with auxiliary( A/N Military police) forces in the nearest town. Then show those rebels the justice they deserve." Koga said shaking a proud fist while making his exit.

"Ugh! My dad is so lame!" Janine said as soon as the door closed.

"Koga? He's cool, kinda... maybe just a little bit" using his index and thumb to visualize.

"Why'd you give him a promotion though? It was better when he would just come when you called him for advice. At least we would know ahead of time. Now he can pop in on us at any time...any time! *gasp* What if he walks in on us, _doing it?_ " she whispered blushing.

"Relax, no one comes into the throne room without the proper approval, my..I mean our, approval. You should know this. The main door won't even open without pressing this button, giving the signal for the guards"

"No one, you say?" Janine said with a finger to her lip

"No one."

"At all...?"

"Not a soul, O' woman of mine" Lance said mimicking Koga's formal tone.

Janine sat on the emperor's lap front facing him, "Then take me, right now" she whispered lightly into his ear.

"Take you? Where?"

"Just shut up, O' idiot of mine" she said beginning to nibble on his ear.

"So what do you think we'll find here?" Will asked no one in particular.

Proton answered, "Something. The report was pretty vague actually, but it specifically mentioned that Lance was interested in what was here. If we can get it before him then-"

 _Wshsst. Wshsst. Whsst._ The sound as air slash whizzes past the unsuspecting rockets.

"Ambush!" Athena shouted as the group released their pokemon.

"Houndoom. Smog!" Karen commanded to provide them with cover.

"Gust that smog away" a voice said.

The man's Pidgeotto did as commanded but the Rockets had already dispersed from their position.

"Falkner, What the hell is Team Rocket doing here of all places!? Did Lance hire them?" the girl next to him asked.

"He wouldn't need to, he has a damned army. They must have their own agenda. Fan out and find them! Whatever they're here for we're gonna make them regre-"

Falkner fell to his knees as he inhaled sleeping powder emitted from Apollo's weezing. The others with him fell soon after.

"That was easier then I expected. Some gym leader, ha!" Apollo sneered.

"A gym leader?" Proton said with a raised eyebrow.

"Lord Falkner of Violet City. Apparently he's working with the rebels." Will said observing the gold and blue uniform.

"He's only asleep, we should kill them all before they becomes a nuisance again" Petral said.

"We don't have to. If he's alive, he can do more harm to Lance then we could. Without even having to waste our own resources." Karen said.

"I agree" they heard Kian say.

"If anything happens it's on you two love birds." Apollo mocked. "Let's go. Petral. You stand guard outside. We should be out in 10-20 minutes"

Well into the ruins there was signs of people, small fires with food left around.

"People? Why would there be people way down here?" Karen said.

After several moments of silence

"Hey, answer me you guys! I hate being ignored."

Kian simply scoffed and put his finger to his lip shushing her.

"don't shh me, you, you-"

a voice shouted "Flamethrower!"

"Watch out!" Kian tackled Karen out of the blast range. They rolled with him ending up on top. Kian smiled but was swiftly pushed off so she could release her absol (gift from Silver).

A half hour later they left the ruins battered and bloody.

Petral laughed "10 minutes eh? What took you idiots so lo-"

Apollo had grabbed Petral by his throat in anger, "Dammit Petral," he panted, "there wasn't a damn thing in there besides more fucking rebels!"

"Let him go" Athena said.

"Let him go!? I should kill this bastard! We almost died in there like lover-boy, because this idiot couldn't assess information correctly"

Petral punched Apollo in the gut forcing him to release his grip.

He gasped before saying, "Look, the report said Lance wanted what was here. There has to something important to him in there!"

Kian came limping out of the ruins surprising the others, " The rebels you idiot! Lance, wanted the rebels. He didn't want some magical power source, he wanted to eliminate a threat to _his_ power. And this was their base" he panted.

"Thanks to you, we just did his job. We were outnumbered so we had no choice...kill them or get killed ourselves. It's a fucking miracle we all made it alive. I was pretty sure you died down there Kian. " Will said relieved.

Karen looked down, then up at the sky, "We have to go. Now!" pointing at the flock of flying pokemon coming there way. "Either it's their reinforcements or Imperial forces."

"Doesn't matter, c'mon you guys we have to get out of here!" Athena said running through a forest towards their getaway car.

She took off expecting the others to be right behind her, only Petral followed. A fact she wouldn't realize until after reaching the vehicle.

The others received more damage than her, so they could only commit to a brisk jog. Kian on the other was leaning on Will's shoulder slowing the group down. He could only drag his right leg while pushing with his left so he had been slowing them down. Apex (his machamp) would've carried him but, it was defeated by 2 espeon that caught it off guard fighting a kangaskhan. Alakazam had to finish them off but was badly wounded himself. Kian could feel Will struggling to hold his weight.

"I'm okay now. I can make it" he lied with a smile.

He took his arm off of Will, took a step, then immediately fell to the ground.

"Idiot" Will said leaning to pick him up.

"Leave him." Apollo said a few feet in front of them.

"What? No!" Will replied.

"He'll only get you killed, or caught."

Will stood still thinking about the situation.

"I'll help you" Karen said turning back from the front..

Kian was heavier than she thought. She couldn't use her left arm( left handed) and so was able to lift him off the ground herself.

"C'mon you guys, help me!" she pleaded.

They just looked at her struggle with one arm failing to get Kian up to his feet.

"He can't walk, and we can barely jog dammit. On top of that he's probably gonna bleed out soon" Apollo said shaking his head. "The boy was a damn fool to save you down there."

"Shut up Apollo!" Karen shouted feeling guilty.

Inside the ruins Karen's tunnel vision kept her in focus of only her front. She had no idea that a scyther would attack from her side. She also didn't expect Kian to push her out of the way and get the back of his thighs sliced. Her absol took care of the scyther but its final attack razor wind, had also hit Kian directly. She thought she dealt a finishing blow on him, so she ran out of the ruins panicking. The others followed soon after the last opponent was down.

"Leave him, he'll die soon" Proton said somberly.

"No!" she shouted.

"He's lost too much blood already. He'll be dead before we even make it to the van. If you want him to die in your arms...then by all means go ahead, 'cuz the imperials might already be on our asses."

"I'm not, not dead. Not yet" Kian mumbled barely managing to sit up.

"Exactly. 'Not yet' but soon, it's only a matter of time. Even you can see the inevitable" Apollo sneered.

"Will!" Karen shouted

"Take his shirt off" he suggested.

Question marks appeared over everyone's head.

"I can't carry him anymore, he's too heavy. They don't want to, and you, you aren't able to Karen. That scyther sliced your arm up after it got Kian. We don't have a choice, I don't want to leave him either...but I'm sure Kian will be fine. If someone finds him in a rocket shirt, they'll alert the authorities. In his undershirt they'll think he was just a casualty of the 'violent rebels'." Will reasoned.

Apollo released his koffing and whispered some words to it.

"Koffing will watch over you just in case anyone comes. Consider it a parting gift. I know you'd want to go out with a bang. We may never see you again" he chuckled.

Kian looked up and said "Fuck off Apollo. I have plenty of life left in me."

"Oh,we'll see." Apollo grinned sinisterly

Karen stood there for a few seconds contemplating. She sighed then took off his rocket shirt and saw his half of their necklace (right half of blue pearl pokeball shaped pendant). It brought up fond memories she spent the last few months trying to forget. She was positive he was going to die now so she took from him, holding her tears back.

"Karen. I know you won't believe this but, I-I love you. If I do die I, at least I can die happy if you say it back." he smiled with blood smeared on his teeth.

Over the past 3 years, 'love' wasn't a word that either of them used to express their feelings for each other. It had stunned her even more than the others.

"I- I- I-...I'm sorry Kian. I can't. I just can't" she said before running off.

"Love will get you nowhere in life boy." Apollo commented, "But it seems like you'll be going nowhere regardless"

Apollo expected Kian to have a witty remark, but his expression was blank save for a solitary tear rolling down his cheek.

"Instead of dying happy, I guess you'll be dying depressed. Nothing can crush a man's spirit like a woman. See you in hell, kid" Apollo mocked, laughing.

"Apollo, you're one cold fucker ya' know" Proton said

"And you're one dumb fucker, 'ya' know'. Let's not forget whose idea this was, Petral's, not mine." he replied, "Let's go we've been here for too long already." Apollo took off without saying anything else.

"Sorry Kian, but you'll be fine just, just trust me...okay?" Will jogged trying to catch up to the others

Athena was checking the time. 12 minutes she and Petral had been there waiting before Karen arrived crying.

"What happened?" She asked the younger rocket

"Kian, he, he might die. We had to leave him but, I don't think it was the right thing to do" she sniffled.

"He's a strong Kid so I think he'll be fine."

"Really?"

"Yea of cour-"

 _*Booom!*_

"What was that!?" Athena asked.

"That was koffing," Apollo said appearing from the forest. "I told it to use explosion, after I left and after."

"What!?" Karen shouted.

"What the fuck Apollo! You said koffing was supposed to guard Kian, not kill him!" Will roared.

"Oh, is that what I said?" Apollo spoke sarcastically.

"I'll kill you!" Karen said, launching herself at him.

Athena grabbed her mid-air, "What the hell is wrong with you Apollo?"

"What? He was going to die anyway... besides if he didn't, and was found by Imperials. He would've been broken into revealing our secrets."

Karen shouted, "No, they wouldn't have broken him."

"Right, because you already did that." Apollo said sinisterly.

"No I didn-"

"You definitely broke the little fucker, if only you saw his face, it was quite humorous actually. Instead of dying happy all lovey-dovey like he wanted, he died alone miserably. That one tear just sliding down his face... hmm, maybe humorous isn't the right word, more like patheti-"

Athena silenced Apollo, knocking him out with a single punch.

"What is he talking about?" Athena said facing Karen.

Her eyes watering she said, "he said he could die happy if I said I love him. I do, I did, I think I did... but I didn't want him to die so, so I didn't say it. I thought if I said it he would've lost his will to live ya'know. So I ran, I ran away because I wanted him to stay alive. If I knew... I.."

Her words became a jumbled heap of sounds as she fell to her knees crying. A person she cared about most was now gone from the world. He wouldn't know how she really felt, she neglected him for too long and it was too late to make amends. Now all she could do is bawl her eyes out. Her sadness turned back into anger as she saw Apollo's unconscious body defenseless on the ground.

She got up with only malice in her eye, Will put a hand on her shoulder.

"Karen, Kian'll be fine. Trust me", he said.

"Don't gimme that shit Will! You can't sense that far and you can't see the fucking future. What makes you so sure he's fine?"

"I told you about how I lived one of his memories, right? If six or seven explosions couldn't kill him, then he can take _one._ Besides I can just feel it. He's like, like a main character or something. Main characters don't die off easily, everyone knows that."

"Will you're fucking nonsense isn't helping" she replied.

"Everyone hop in, this mission was a complete failure. Silver's gonna be pissed" Athena said

They gathered into the van before speeding off back to Celadon.

 **From this point on, the story will diverge into different segments focusing on different groups. There will be more of Lance, more Rockets, and definitely some new characters as well. I hope you guys/gals enjoyed reading. Favorite/Follow/Review**


	8. Episode 7: Uninvited Guest

"Why are we here again?" Will groaned while stretching the collar of his uncomfortably tight tuxedo.

"Yeah, it feels like we don't belong here" Karen agreed, in an equally uncomfortable pantsuit.

"Silver needs to keep up appearances." Ariana explained, "As the Lord of Viridian, he is obligated to come to these mandatory meetings with the rest of the Federation leaders in Celadon to talk about things regular things like the economy, homelessness, crime, and other stuff like that."

"Okay, that's nice and all... but, you didn't answer my question. Silver doesn't need _us_ to help advance his political career. So I'll ask again. Why are _we~_ here? " he emphasized.

"Because," Silver stated as he appeared from behind, startling the psychic, "You're my entourage. Members of my personal security staff. Your jobs are simple, all you have to do is-" he paused to sip his oddly named beverage. "Ahhh~ All you have to do is stand around, look tough, and enjoy the free food while I enjoy these free drinks."

"Free food you say," Will said walking away with a contented grin.

"Athena. I mean uh, Ariana." Karen awkwardly corrected herself, " It's almost been an hour since we got here. When is this shit gonna start?"

"This is my first time here too. Based on what I heard from just walking around all, we're only waiting on two of the heavenly kings" said the red-headed rocket in disguise.

"Heavenly what? You mean, Elite Four, right?" Karen asked.

"This is the seat of Federation power. It's best to call them by their proper titles. Not that they'd care much if you don't, but ya'know, it's simply out of respect."

Immediately after she finished, a series of trumpet blows signaled an arriving party. As the large granite double-door entrance opened, a voice was heard over an intercom, "Presenting, Heavenly Kings Brock Takeshi and Misty Kasumi!"

"Sorry we we're late everyone!" Lord Takeshi said at the head of the pack. "We were-"

"Fuckin'!" Silver crudely interrupted, weaving his way through the small crowd now directly in front of Brock, Misty, and their entourage. "Why else would you be with her? As a matter of fact, Misty doesn't even have a city to her name anymore, Seafoam Isle is only like two and a half islands. So are you actually even considered a noble anymore let alone an Elite Four?"

Brock opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by Silver's uncomfortably close index finger "Shh, it's okay Brock. We all know how you are when you see a beautiful woman. You're a man who can barely control his carnal desires. So naturally you travelling with the very attractive Misty, with no one to stop the beast inside of y-"

Will placed a hand over Silver's mouth, pulling him backwards, "Lord Takeshi, please forgive my employer, he's had a bit too much to drink" the psychic pleaded.

Silver removed Will's hand and pushed him aside. "Relax Will. Brock knows I'm only kidding. Ain't that right Brock?" he said flashing a cheeky smile.

Brock gave a slight nod, "Her escort vehicle broke down a few miles east. My convoy stopped to help, then we got stuck in traffic", he finished while he said while swiftly moving past Silver to greet his other, more sober peers.

Misty followed suit, "Do you always have to be an asshole you idiot" she sneered while staring daggers at Silver.

His response was to mouth the words 'only joking'.

"Now that everyone's here. Let the meeting commence!" Erika said draped in a rainbow furisode, beckoning the others towards her.

"Wait, I think someone should still be outside. There was limousine behind us. I had assumed it was Professor Oak or Elm, but I see now that they're both here already" he said waving at them both.

The signalling trumpets were blown again followed by another announcement over the intercom, "Presenting... Wait, is that? What!? He shouldn't be here. Don't let him in! Don't let him in!"

"Damn I already pressed the button. Shit! I'm so fired for this!", said a higher pitched voice as the doors began to open."

"Press the close button you fucking idiot!" the original voice shouted.

The second voice panicked and said, "Shit the mic is still o-

"What's, going on?" Blue asked no one in particular.

"One hell of a time I guess" Surge answered with a devious smile.

As the large doors began to recede they were stopped, and forcibly opened by a duo of rhydon donned in scarlet coats of armor. Seven people stepped through passed the 6 foot beasts.

A soldier in a similar colored flak jacket spoke up, "Presenting the great, the powerful and majestic ruler of the Indigo Empire. The Crimson Dragon Lance of House Wataru!"

"Did you seriously make him say that? I thought you were only joking" Bruno commented with the slightest hint of a chuckle.

"Bruno, you know I'm not one to joke about appearances, nor entrances. I love making a good impression."

Lance looked up and saw Silver, the person nearest to the door. A smirk came upon his face but before he could speak, Erika's voice rang across the Grand Hall.

"Lance Wataru! You and your company are not welcome here! Your trespassing can be considered an act of war! I suggest you leave before-"

"Before what!" Lance roared back comically, "I know very well those coastal rebellions in the Sevii Islands cost you far more lives than it should have. If only your naval tactics weren't so pathetic, you might have won with far less casualties." he said looking directly at Surge, "I'm surprised you were even able to hold on to the Orange Islands too. So as far as the threat of war, Lady Erika, I am fully prepared to make that a reality."

Silence was all there was as Lance grinned mischievously before Blue walked nearer saying, "What do you want Lance? Don't think we don't know about your failures trying to invade southern Sinnoh. We won our wars, but you lost yours. Care to explain yourself?" Blue said with a chuckle.

Lance's grin turned into an enraged expression.

"You really want to know?" the emperor said with a more serious tone, "I was betrayed! Betrayed by a bastard who I tried to shape into my own protege", He said shaking a raised fist.

"You make it sound so traumatic" Silver sneered.

"You arrogant prick! I invited you to the ancient ways of my clan hoping you could be like my right hand. And you chose to betray me?!"

"First of all, I don't really know, or care what you do with your hands so... that definitely wasn't going to happen. We left on good terms a few years ago, you're just mad because I'm selling superior technology to Sinnoh. Besides you kinda tortured me for a little over three years, you think I'm drink so much by choice. No, no, no. This is your fault Lance, you and that damned prophecy!" Silver spat out enraged.

"Is that it, huh? You betrayed me, because you fear the greatness of my destiny." Lance followed with a chuckle, " Silver, you always wanted to be one of the stars in the prophecy, I just knew it. You couldn't just bathe in my magnificent light, you wanted to shine on your own so that your lowlife daddy can see you. Maybe even say I love you, or I'm proud of you. Well Silver, let me tell you this, your father is scum, and you, you Silver, you're lower than scum."

"I see why he's so much of a dick," Misty said, "going through that for three years, I think I'd go mad too", she sympathized.

"This explains so much," Ariana said snapping her fingers.

"Am I the only one who heard 'prophecy'?" Will asked the group around him.

"Lance, you may have _formally_ trained me but you said it yourself, I was a prodigy." Silver said with a cocky grin, "I had already beaten every trainer in here before you took me in, including you. I could've learned anything you taught me on my own and you know it. Mental abuse aside, I do appreciate what you did for me, but you drove me to the brink of Insanity and for that I left" Silver bowed as he finished.

"You think a bow is all it takes to be forgiven. The law for treason in the empire is death!" Lance roared.

Silver raised an eyebrow, "I'm a Federation noble, you do know that right? Diplomatic immunity as per the Goldenrod Treaty article 3 section 2a. You can't lay a finger on me without a full scale war breaking out." He took two steps closer, "You might not be as ready for war as you think. Kanto has a higher trainer population, which makes our system more competitive as a whole. Meaning that the average kanto trainer is more adept to battling than a Johto peer. Instead of a war, we can have a single battle you want. Let's go a quick round, one-on-one, it's been awhile since Mandy came out to play" he said enlarging the ball with his feraligatr.

"A trainer's life is rough, most of us have been down that road," Lance sympathized, "but do you really plan to send a few thousand ten-thirteen years on the battlefield against my elite? Besides you people still seriously hold the Sakaki's as a noble family even after Giovanni was found out to the be leader of the most largest crime syndicate across both regions. I wouldn't be surprised if Silver was their new leader. The poor fool always wanted to follow in daddy's shoes."

"The Sakaki family has been a noble clan since the warring states period over 500 years ago. Just because one of them is bad apple, it does not reflect the tree as a whole." Erika defended. "And The federation has a 16 year old requirement, 6 years as a trainer is long enough to be ready for combat training."

"So you can ridicule him and his family name, but I noticed you didn't accept his challenge. Has getting old gotten to you already, Lance? I can see a lot of grays coming in, but to think that the 'mighty Crimson Dragon' is afraid of some wino" Blue scoffed.

"Sorry, but I don't have any of my pokeballs around me." Lance said lifting his cape and twirling round dramatically, "I saw this coming and didn't want to personally involve myself in any battles. The propaganda media of Kanto always paints me to be a bad guy. I'm sure one of my Heavenly Kings will suffice as a challenge. Koga would love to battle someone of your caliber Silver."

Silver chuckled then said, " No thanks. I don't have time for small fish, even if it is one of your Elite Four. Will!" He shouted, " Battle this fuschia fucker and you better win. After you do I'll buy 30 cases of... whatever the hell you're eating."

Will, face stuffed into a platter cinnamon powdered dumplings, jumped up at his boss' request.

Lance gestured towards Blue "Why don't you referee for this exhibition. You might be a prick, but I know you're a fair prick."

Blue looked at Erika, just a few feet away.

"Ugh," she sighed with a palm to her face, "follow me", she said walking towards a glass door.

The Leaders, Elite Four, nobles, and company walked out to an officially sized pokemon field with a grassy turf and open sky.

"You have your battle then you leave" Erika commanded.

"Must you be so harsh. I only came to give my condolences to the Kikuko family. Agatha died about two weeks ago, and I wanted to personally deliver her body to Lavender Town" Lance said proudly.

"You could've flown." Erika said sternly.

"Agatha didn't like to fly, so I respect her wishes even in death."

Lance," Silver said earnestly, "you know Agatha brainwashed you right? Kinda like you tried to brainwash me, remember? You can't possibly believe in all that prophetic bullshit. A stone tablet that was made five, six, or however many thousands of years ago, says you're going to some ultra emperor? That's fucking stupid."

"You don't believe what you don't understand. Isn't that right Erika?"

She gave him a look, "You don't know, neither do I, but trust me all we have to is wait and see."

Koga and Will stood on opposite sides of the field.

"One pokemon per trainer. Battle will continue until one of them is no longer able," Blue said in the middle of the field.

Koga released an intimidating arbok while Will decided to use his exeggutor.

"Begin!" Blue said as he stepped off the field.

"Trick room!" Will commanded knowing his pokemon to be naturally slower.

"Coil, then use acid spray" commanded Koga.

"Psyshock!" his opponent commanded

Exeggutor managed to hit the pokemon with its dark purple orb of psychic energy. Arbok fell then exeggutor ran towards it with trick room speed.

"Hit it with an energy ball"

A large green orb began to manifest on the cheif head. Right when it was about to fire, arbok used its tail to sweep exeggutor off of its feet sending the energy ball upwards into the sky. The arbok now possessed the high ground lunging on top of its prey. It wrapped around making sure its opponent couldn't move.

"Use psyshock again!" Will shouted.

"Belch" Koga calmly said.

Arbok narrowly avoided the decisive blow and burped out a horrendous, putrid cloud of poisonous gas at point blank range to exeggutor. The coconut pokemon's body began to violently shake before stopping abruptly except for a slight twitch.

"Acid spray"

Arbok did as commanded and sprayed it acidic venom on the motionless eggexcutor

"I win, and surprisingly quick" Koga snickered walking back towards Lance's side.

"Battle's over now leave!" Erika commanded, "Lavender town is twelve hours away without traffic so I suggest you hurry."

Will ran towards his motionless pokemon. Koga's arbok was still on mounted and lunged at the perceived threat. Will telekinetically tossed the arbok to the side. Upon reaching exeggutor he noticed its eyes weren't swirled, but a pale white rather. Along with his faces' features slightly melted due to the acid attacks

Will made a fist, "You- you bastard! You just killed my pokemon."

Koga smirked, "Maybe you shouldn't have raised them to be so we-"

He reached for his throat as he suddenly couldn't breathe. His face began to turn blue and then purple as the man fell to a kneeling pose. A headache overcame him he felt what could only be described as a finger jamming its way into his brain. As the pain became unbearable he collapsed to the ground.

"Will! That's enough!" Silver shouted. "Enough!" he shouted louder after Will didn't release at first.

Koga gasped for air once he was free from constriction, "You, little, brat", he panted struggling to his feet.

"Enough Koga, the boy nearly killed you once. You didn't need to kill his pokemon, it was absolutely unnecessary. This was an exhibition, not mortal combat. If you killed one of my dragonair, I'd be furious as well" Lance said with a sympathetic chuckle.

"You know all of my pokemon are bred to be lethal, especially the ones in my party" Koga replied with a slight chuckle turned violent cough.

"It's time for you to leave," Erika commanded

"Let's go you guys. I get the feeling we aren't wanted here" Lance suggested.

"You aren't, at all" Blue said pointing towards the exit.

"Yea, yea, we're leaving. There's already been more damage than needed. I extend my apologies to you boy", he said to Will while going towards the exit.

With Lance now gone, and the meeting over, now was the time to ask many questions left unanswered.

The first to speak was Misty, "When will we take back Cerulean!?" She yelled out passionately.

Erika sighed, Misty was just recently promoted to Elite Four status so she had little knowledge about how international politics work.

"Misty, my dear, we can't just declare a war against Lance' empire for the sake of your city. Many lives would be lost for a short term goal. We _will_ take Cerulean back, we will, but it's part of a long term plan"

Misty groaned but accepted the words of the Federation's President.

"Speaking of a long term plans, how are we gonna take Lance head on? He wasn't lying when he said we wasted lives trying to keep those islands when we have the mainland to worry about", The former frontier brain Noland said.

"Well Noland, Those islands are vital trade points with Hoenn, not only your home region, but also happens to be our closest ally at the moment. We lose those islands, we lose an edge that'll get Hoenn to help if necessary" Erika answered.

"So we're using the islands as leverage?"

"Correct. Next question."

"Um, I may be speaking out of turn m'lady," her servant said while pouring tea, "but why did the man with Lance use rhydon to open the doors if his followers supposed to be dragon master?"

Blue was quick to respond, " First off, dragon types are hard to comeby even for Blackthorne dragon masters since dragons don't breed as often in the wild. Second he wanted to impose authority on us. Yet, it was subtle, very subtle. Many may not have noticed so I'll explain. Indigo Plateau, and thereby the unity of both Kanto and Johto were built on the backs of the rhydon owned by one of his ancestors. He paid homage to his forefathers while reminding us that he doesn't think he's the emperor of just Johto. He wants the whole Indigo under his control. He'll probably try to push for unification sympathy in next few years. Portraying us to be the bad guys because we'd rather fight for our freedom than submit to his pride."

Erika began clapping gleefully "I think Blue did an absolutely wonderful job answering that one, anymore questions?"

"My question is for Silver. Why didn'tcha say you were Lance's apprentice, you some kinda spy or somethin' ?" Surge grunted.

"Erika knew, Blue knew. The top two on the pyramid knew so it didn't concern anyone else. Just out of curiosity, why do you think I was selling shit to Sinnoh anyway? If it was just money Sinnoh wouldn't have even been a blip on my radar. I could've had heaps of gold so big I would need 3 machamp to carry it all, plus half of Johto's annual taxes in my pocket if I wanted. I've seen how that man acts with power. So I'd never help lance rule a thing. Point blank, period."

"So what's the deal with this prophecy? It's my first time hearing about it" Will said.

"A very good question young one, a good one indeed." Erika acknowledged, "You see a very long time ago, mystics, kinda like psychics such as yourself were at the pinnacle of society, next to, or even surpassing the royals themselves. Millennia ago the first Indigo Empire was founded by Ryu Tatsu, father and founder of the various dragon clans across the regions. He had a mystic who foretold what would become known as the Indigo Endeavor"

"That's a stupid name for a prophecy, if you ask me" Will replied

"Good thing no asked you I suppose." Erika said before continuing, " It starts with the future for them, but ancient things for us like the emperor's death by his own pokemon, his children fighting the people to keep control, and the empire splitting apart. It speaks about more recent history such as being in a time where wars will come and go like the rising and setting of the sun, the great meteor being destroyed by rayquaza and mega evolution becoming widespread shortly after, which we still know very little about. We're nearing the penultimate stage of the prophecy where, stay with me here, 4 groups will split into 3 separate groups and each will fight so that only one of each remains. Then shortly after four 'stars' will rise from the East, four from the West, one from the North, one from the South. A total of ten 'stars' which we interpret as trainers will become the leaders of war unlike any other." Erika said long winded.

Silver interrupted her explanation "I still believe that this is all just some random coincidence but, if it is, by some odd reason true, it's interesting that the four most likely won't be the elite four from the east or west. It wouldn't make sense to send just the four in battle without champions lea-"

Will interrupted, "What about-"

"The ones from the north and south are treated as joining the war separately, whereas both groups of four are already engaged."

"Well, Lady Erika didn't say anything like that?" Will questioned.

Silver looked towards Will with irritation and said "That's because she tried to explain the gist of it without having to recite the whole damn prophecy. She also didn't say the man from the north will be a powerful mystic clad in gold and have shiny gold pokemon. Or that the woman from the south will be clad in silver and be a dragon master with ancient knowledge. There's a lot of things you don't know Will, maybe if you _listened_ instead of talking, you might learn something. I bet you didn't know that all ten stars should be descendants of good ol' Ryu Tatsu himself. Anyways those two make believe people from the north and south are supposed to be the real factors on who wins the war according to Lance. That's because the power they have is beyond normal people and special people."

"Special people?" Will asked, "Special like how?"

"Special like you with supernatural abilities. For example some humans have abilities that make them capable of fighting pokemon by themselves."

"Oh, like how I threw that arbok."

"Exactly. Other people have similar powers to you like Sabrina, some have completely different ones. These two from this prophecy however, have abilities that eclipse yours or anyone else's."

"Oh would you look at that, it seems that's all the time we have for today. Our next gathering will take place in three months for the Indigo league preparations. Have a wonderful evening my dears." Erika said bringing the meeting to a close.

As the occupants shifted towards the exits, Silver chose this time to talk to Will.

"I know you have some kind of revenge planned against Koga, just you know whatever you in mind, I got your back...9 times out of 10 that is."

Will smirked, "Oh, I have a plan alright."


End file.
